The art of trying
by Belgianwritersblock
Summary: As winter closes in and old enemies do the same, the gang will face one hell of threat. Bad enough even without tensions running high in the group. Perhaps things will never be the same but it's important to try to make the best of the hand you're dealt. Involves all 5, yet focusses on Rae & BB (BBxRae). I tried to keep them in character. genre 3 Action. Would love your feedback.
1. Slice of life

_An introduction:_

Welcome to the first chapter of a twelve-part story about our favourite teenaged superheroes and -heroines. In particular this fanfiction will focus on 'Beastboy' and 'Raven'.

As I type this introduction, I've gotten around to ten of the twelve chapters. I promise to do my best and update regularly, but I'm rather busy with schoolwork and life and such. And I don't want to post all ten chapters in the first week and then make you wait for the last two for half a year or something. Which is, ironically, why I decided to start updating now. Perhaps seeing people read and review the story might jog me to put some more effort into it and get me to finish the damn story.  
And I know this sounds pathetic and needy, but I really do write more if I find that people actually read what I write. So, if you want to see more, let me know. Heck you can comment something like: "get on with it ya lazy bum" and I'll appreciate it. Critical reviews will also be welcomed. You need some critique to improve after all.

I do hope you'll enjoy,

Belgianwritersblock

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Teen Titans.

Special thanks to my beta: Dustin Perry. Without him, you'd be facing one hell of an error-filled chapter.

**Chapter one: 'Slice of life'**

_Alternate title: Putting the TT in TmnT._

* * *

We join our favorite five on a cold, early winter night. Though there is no snow, the promise of frost and cold roams the streets freely. It's a bad night in Jump City to be outside. The few poor sobs who are, take cover around burning trash and drink unbranded liquor, in a desperate effort to keep warm. (Though, honestly, the concept unbranded liquor isn't all that new or out of character for them.) All the while these poor bastards are telling stories to try and escape reality.  
Those more fortunate to have a roof above their head have the sense of staying inside. This goes for the good and the wicked alike. Evil masterminds decide to take the night off and enjoy the comfort of home and watch a 'Three Stooges' marathon playing on the television. Even imprisoned (super)criminals decide to delay their break-out for a day or two. Two hots and a cot can be very comforting at dire times.

Our trained teens are no different. The ice-cold biting wind plays the great equalizer between good and evil for once as they enjoy a nice, comfy evening in 'Titans Tower'. All occupants are currently gathered in the living room as Cyborg and Beast Boy entwined in a senseless video-game while Raven sits next to them, enjoying a thick book titled 'Celphior' as she blocks out their shouts of success and groans of defeat. The atmosphere could be described as a number of things comfy, cozy, homey, convivial, quaint, nice, friendly, relaxed, … The Dutch have such a perfect word for it. Tonight, the giant, artificial 'T' basks in '_gezelligheid_'. The headquarters even smell nice thanks to Starfire and Robin, 'power couple extraordinaire', who are making the team a pizza. Starfire decided to make one as a way to be kind to her earthly friends. Robin, being a responsible and vigilant teamleader, decided to help out so no-one ends up with a case of food-poisoning. The alien girl cuddles the larva known as Silkie as it almost 'purs' happily in her arms.

These are the moments to treasure. These are the good things that don't last too long.

As it shows, as a matter of fact, they end far to quickly. For within a few minutes, this peace will be disturbed. Things change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse.

Because even though just about everyone is smart enough to seek shelter and stay inside and have a lovely and cosy evening, there's always someone about to muck it up.

We all know someone like that, don't we?

* * *

"BOOYAH!" The caterwauling expression of Cyborg echoed through the room. "In your face B." He threw the controller in the air and danced vigorously on the spot. "I beat you. Now admit it." The half man, half machine finished his exclamation by twirling and pointing at Beast Boy.

The youngest, smallest and (literally) greenest member of the team grumbled something inaudible.

"What was that?" Asked the metal man. He squatted down next to his friend and whispered, right next to his ear. "I couldn't hear ya B, ya gotta speak up." The wide grin on his face was unmistakable.

Sure enough, Beast Boy did speak up. "Never!" He shouted it so loud that his bigger comrade fell over, on his back, out of shock. From the floor however, he still had the spirit to retort.

"Come on Beast Boy. Deal's a deal. We agreed that the loser, aka you, no suprises there, because you know, I'm awesome, had to admit being the worse player for eternity. You lost, fair and square." Said Cyborg, while getting up. He ended his statement with his arms crossed.

"I demand a rematch." Spoke the shape shifter, pointing his gloved finger at his mechanic friend.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I won. And I ain't taking the chance of you beating me and making me look like a fool. Now hone up."

"So you're admitting I could beat you?"

Cyborg lowered himself so he was face to face with his comrade. "Hone up." He repeated sternly.

"Dude! Come on." Gar's wails were becoming both loud and desperate.

"Beast Boy, just admit your defeat already." The slightly droning voice came from the dark blue shape to their left. Her face was revealed with her cowl limp against her neck, yet her eyes were solely focused on the words between her hands.

Beast Boy tried a last rebuttal, but turning to these two, one ahead of him and one behind, made it impractical to utter a decent response. With his mouth open, ready to roar defiance, he froze. Two against one was too much. "You're the better player, ... for eternity." He managed in the end, with a soft voice and his eyes looking down.

"That's my boy!" Laughed Cyborg, friendly clasping his green compadre on the shoulder. "That wasn't so difficult now was it?" Then he added "Mhm, something smells nice." because when it came to food, his attention got sucked away faster than that of a kid in a 'toy, puppy, candy & fireworks-store'. He didn't even notice the remote flying by his head, black through a spell of Raven's. Instead he moved, seemingly floating, to the kitchen and the wonderful smell of the 'pizza-quatro-fromages'.

"Honestly beastboy, it's just saying a few words." Raven "Besides." She continued, guiding the remote until it lay in her hand. She pressed a button and suddenly the giant screen no longer depicted two 'cybernetically enhanced mutant monkeys' but a roaring fire-place. "I'd think you'd be used to it by now."

Her tone of voice upset Beast Boy greatly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The faintest smile appeared on Raven's face, all the while she kept her focus on her book. "You know, just saying you should be able to admit someone else's superiority more freely with you getting your butt kicked all the time."

"Hey. Not cool dude. I beat Cyborg at this game plenty." There was still some pride in his voice. The admission had not taken all of the green boy's self-respect.

"Maybe I'm talking about real life experience." The smallest of grins was visible on her face.

Scratch the oven, you could have made the pizza on Beast Boy's face. He let his bushy brows sink into a mean stare. Raven remained oblivious of this, however. With his mouth being no more than a horizontal line (and one fang popping up) he exclaimed without emotion "Woman, why you gotta torment me so?"

"Not my fault you take everything so personal."

"Will you just stop it for once?"

"You really should learn to control your feelings. If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times."

"Yeah right dude. Between you and Cyborg I think we've got enough robots on our team."

"It's true what they say about sticks and stones Beast Boy. Only the weakminded take insults to heart. The more objective you are, the less you get hurt. It's simple."

"So words are just words and I'm rubber and you're glue. I get that Raven, getting your feelings hurt just means you have them. Getting hurt is a part of life."

"For some more than others it would seem." She interjected, smirking.

"And moving on from that..." Garfield continued relentlessly, his voice only slightly raised. "Getting over it. That's what makes you strong. So aha! I say you're the weak one Raven; J'accuse!"

Raven allowed her right eye to glance the boy next to her briefly. She regarded him; from his pointing indexfinger mere centimetres from her eye, to the rediculous French outfit he'd seemingly put on in an inexplicable flash, barret, black-and-white horizontally striped t-shirt and fake moustache and all. "That almost sounded profound." She said. "But if that were true..." She turned a page and returned her focus to the book. "You'd be invincible by now."

"Hey, as far as I know we've yet to lose a cause." Garfield concluded. He crossed his arms and sank back happily, somehow once again in his usual outfit.

"If failing truly were a better mentor than success, you might have beaten me in a battle of wits by now." Raven said. Absentmindedly she moved a lock of hair that had fallen before her eyes and placed it behind her ear. "And you wouldn't get tossed around like a volleyball during our clashes with the enemy."

And with that Garfield Logan was pulled right back out of his relaxed state. The insult stung pretty bad. "Hey! That's uncalled for. And not true at all!"

"It is. You just proved it."

"Take it back Raven." He sat upright. "I'm not joking anymore."

"If you can learn to ignore words you won't feel the anger you feel now. You won't be impulsive and walk in to further traps. Same goes for fights, stay objective and you won't be blinded. If you're ready, you could take anyone, but you just lose your calm."

"Animals don't do calm, they do fierce." He bit back, fully annoyed now.

"And that's why you get your but kicked every so often." She blatently stated. Not unkindly, though it came across as patronizing, she added: "And that's why you're getting so upset right now."

Beast Boy grinded his teeth. "Stop it Raven."

"Don't feel bad Beast Boy, every group needs a punching bag. You make us look awesome, it's an important job and you do it so well. You see what I mean about letting words get to you?"

"Just don't." He saw her smile as she said it. Perhaps deep down he realised that she was, in her own way, just messing around and trying to help him, but all he could think about was how much he hated to see those teeth right now.

"But it's such a big job for such a little kid, it's amazing how good you make us look."

_She wasn't even bothered at all!_ Beast boy thought to himself. Words couldn't hurt, now could they? Was she so oblivious about her fun that she couldn't notice just how much effect her words had? Words couldn't hurt? _Hah!_ He'd show her.

Perhaps there was a distant chuckle in her voice, a rare sign of playfulness from her part, but Beast boy could no longer hear it. He'd been cooped up for two days inside 'T-tower' now, while all his animal instincts told him to go run, or fly or climb or swim. It was driving him insane. Then, he'd lost at his favourite game, had to embarrassingly admit his utter defeat and now his friend was picking on him. Usually he could take her banter and retort a playful comeback, usually while feeding her more ammunition. But tonight, in his mind, he noted nothing friendly in her behaviour. She didn't even look at him while making fun of him. He never felt so unrespected by his friend as he did now. "Well then call me agent Hunt because making someone as ugly as you look good, Raven, is mission impossible." He said with a touch of bitterness as he sat himself down in the couch.

Unbeknownst to him, Raven looked up from her book for the first time during the conversation. She resumed her previous gaze shortly thereafter, though. Looking at the words intensely, she could no longer bring herself to reading them. "That was a pretty lame comeback, even for you." She replied. The changeling tried to find another piece of wit, even he had to admit that calling her ugly was pretty weak, but when Raven was the first one to break the silence he knew something was off. "Big talk coming from a little green man anyway." She said, obviously annoyed.

Beast Boy was utterly speechless and watched her with saucers for eyes. What was with her weak retort? Quite out of character it was. Could it be possible he'd actually hurt her feelings? He'd wanted this so badly just a minute ago. But now, as he saw the unforseeable effect of his actions, he wished he could take it all back. As quick as his beastly fit of rage had surfaced, it faded away. "Rae..." He started, but was interrupted again.

"Besides, it's a bad comeback for another reason too." She spoke.

"I... uh, I didn't..." He may not have been an empath like her, but it was clear now, even to his jester's mind, that she was indeed hurt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." He managed.

Words can hurt, but, to any decent human being, the look of a friend in distress is much more effective. An image trumps a sentence nine times out of ten. And what a horrible picture it was indeed.

The half demon continued however, without paying his words mind. "You make the mistake that I'm the kind of girl who cares about her looks. Such quips would be better applied to Starfire."

As on cue, the orange alien resurfaced from the oven and proudly and loudly proclaimed. "Dinner is served!" Cyborg stood to her right, drooling. Robin stood to her left, carefully making sure she didn't use cheese made from some alien animal. "What do you think friends?" She asked the duo accompanying her.

Cyborg tried to sniff up all the steam rising from the dish and exclaimed "Starfire, I think I'm in love with you right now!"

"Oh dear." Replied Starfire, staring in the distance, not getting the intended humour. "I wonder where we can find two bludgeoning weapons at this time of night."

Cyborg wasn't really paying her any attention anymore as his eyes were nearly glued to the pizza. Robin however had the sense to ask "What?"

Starfire turned to him. "You do intend to compete in "Garforkt 'H-ra" for me, right?"

Robin shook his head in all directions, desperately trying to understand. Finally he repeated himself. "What?"

"On my home-planet, when two Tamaranians are interested in a third, they must compete in "Garforkt 'H-ra". It's ancient tradition. Cyborg declares he's in love with me. Am I not worth fighting for to you, Robin?"

Robin had a hard time not bursting out laughing. But seeing as his girlfriend would probably not find it that amusing and he'd have to spend the whole night telling her that if it came to it, he would fight for her, he decided for another approach. "Sure you are. But just a minute Starfire. I'll show you how we deal with this here on earth." In the blink of an eye he was next to Cyborg, jabbing him in the chest until his friend payed him attention. The team-leader whispered the situation in the non-mechanical ear. The half robot man gave agreeing grunts and at one point nearly started laughing himself, he looked over to Starfire who in turn looked at them in confusion.

"Yeah sure." Cyborg said nearly inaudible himself.

"Thanks Cy." Robin gave him an appraising smile.

The mechanical man stood upright and turned to the girl to his left. His voice was as computerized as ever. "Starfire. While Robin challenged me to the fiercest, deadliest match on earth, to defend your honor, it became clear to me that my vocalization-unit has a small defect. I have no intent to fight Robin on the most dangerous and remote places on earth. For the sake of your love, I'm not so willing to risk life and limb as he is, and he's really made clear he is, mind you, even though mine can be replaced. All I intended to say was that I love this exquisite pizza." He clearly saw the girls eyes light up with admiration and love for their leader. He was then jabbed in the back by Robin, who tried to cough inconspicuously. "Really man?" Cyborg asked, turning his head back slightly. He met boy wonder's demanding gaze and sighed. His voice was completely without enthusiasm. "But man oh man, you sure are lucky to have such a dedicated admirer as Robin."

"Oh Robin, how wonderful!" Starfire exclaimed as she threw up her hands and the plate with the pizza with it. She dashed passed Cyborg and embraced her boyfriend, giving him a kiss . Meanwhile, Cyborg barely managed to catch their dinner.

"Well... uhm." Said a blushing Robin, his head finally matching his shirt. "Let's eat then?"

"Yes! A most glorious idea." Said the orange girl as she jumped up and clasped her hands. She directed her attention to the two teammates still sitting on the couch. "Come friends! Let us feast on unhealthy foods and sugary beverages!" It was clear she was completely oblivious to the fact that Beast Boy and Raven had continued arguing this entire time. But then again, such a thing was nothing new in the giant T.

"Look." Said Beast Boy, trying to bite back his anger to the best of his possibilities but still failing. "I've been apologizing for this for the last five minutes."

"And I told you I don't need your apology. Because I'm fine. It's a subject that doesn't matter, uttered by a senseless little idiot. Why would I get upset for that? I'm not even cross." She bit back in her usually bored voice. But it was just a tad to quick

"Hah! Yes you are. I can tell. It's why you call me an idiot."

"Beast Boy, you are an idiot, whether I'm mad or not. My state of emotional well-being does not affect your IQ."

"No no no, don't try and talk your way out of this. You can't lie to me about this. See, I'm an expert at getting people angry!" The frustration was ever climbing in Garfields head. "Wait, that came out wrong."

"I don't need a lecture from you on my own emotions Beast Boy. You're the one cramped up with anger."

"Then what do you want from me?" He asked, ready to burst.

"Nothing. I don't need anything from you. You offer it, I don't want it. It's unnecessary."

The words hit him harder than he'd expected. In one strike not only most of his anger disappeared but also most of his other feelings as well. "Now you're just being unreasonable, Raven. The Titans we... we need each other." His voice was suddenly very weak

Raven regarded him and stood up, the flames of her inner rage only visible to the trained eye. "Right now." She began with a voice cool enough to make Beast Boy question every time he previously thought of Raven as distant, for it was never anything compared to this. "I need some food and some company from my friends would be nice." In a feeble attempt the green teammate tried to interject something like 'so we're still friends right?'. He was cut off before he could even begin. "So there's nothing I need you for." She walked off towards the table, her cloak trailing behind her.

BB turned in the couch. With both hands he grasped the edge of the back of the sofa for protection. His head was half covered by it as he threw the 'hail marry'. "Not an apology then uhm, what if I ... what if I told you that you were, in fact, pretty? Yes. That ought to do it. Right? You're pretty, can we be friends again now?"

Raven stopped and turned. The little green boy was now hopefully fidgeting with his hands. Without any clear emotion on her face she answered. "What if? I'd merely be annoyed to hear you. I don't care what you think, Beast Boy."

As she turned and continued her strive, the changeling's mouth fell to the floor. He turned himself and sunk deep in the sofa. All the while his shocked expression remained the same. "Isn't this a bit unfair?" He asked himself. "How could I have been prepared for this."

But then it came to him, a memory slowly forgotten. He should have kept his stepfather's words in mind. He could still clearly see his mentor Mento sitting at their table in their old headquarters. Elasti-girl had just left the duo in a bad mood. Steve had put up a brave smile and had tried to humour his way out of things. All the while his breath reeked of alcohol. "Garfield..." He remembered Mento say as he turned to him and wore a tired face, every wrinkle seemed twice as deep. "Never insult a girl. 'Call a woman beautiful a million times and she'll never believe you. But call her ugly once, she'll never forget.'" His playful shrug turned to an all out, fit drunk tears and shaking. "Promise me boy, promise me!" Mento had pleaded as he grabbed his shoulders.

"I promise sir!" Beast Boy recalled answering way back when.

But that was then. This was now. He departed the repressed memory.

"Crud." Said the green lad.

"Hey Beast Boy!" His team-leader yelled at him. "Get it while it's hot. Starfire has really outdone herself."

"That's supposed to be reassuring?" The shape-shifter asked himself. Nonetheless he did get up and shuffled towards the table seating his four friends. Well, three and Raven, apparently. For once his hunger was not the main issue but he sat himself down in the only seat available. Raven sat at his right, paying him no mind, Cyborg at his left. Robin also sat next to the mechanical man and was flanked by the off-world chef cook. He even grabbed a slice and reluctantly ate it, offering his best fake smile to his last remaining female friend. It was a good pizza and she had done good work, but his heart, much like his stomach, just wasn't in the right place.

Most of the meal went by quickly, it seemed. There was laughter and talk, the kind you expected from good friends. Even Raven didn't appear particularly depressed. It seemed, Garfield Logan noted, that he wasn't even bothered by their recent argument. But all in all, it went by fast, as a blur, to him as he was to distracted and upset to pay much attention. Before long dinner came to it's usual, expected, loved, feared and semi-violent ending. The decision considering the faith of the last slice. The argument was already well on it's way before Gar noticed. When he looked up from his plate he saw Starfire standing upright. She was loudly arguing with Raven and Robin while Cyborg grunted to himself. The 'mensmachine' was occupied with programming the systems on his left arm as he said "That's it, I'm programming myself to be reminded, every time we eat pizza, to just slice it in ten equal pieces. We go through this every damn time. Who in a right state of mind slices a pizza in six slices for five people anyway?"

"You cut the pizza yourself, Cyborg." Raven interjected.

Cyborg stopped mid-action, his finger pointing upwards as it had been ready to push the buttons on his other arm. Staring far in the distance towards nothing in particular, he replied. "Oh. Yeah. That's true."

"No my friends, you don't understand, I have deserved the last piece!" Starfire spoke shortly thereafter, looking quickly from Robin to Raven. "I have crafted the meal with the hands I possess myself. It's cheesy goodness is mine." Clearly having enough of the change of words she reached for the final, greasy triangle. She got blocked, however, by Cyborg who, not without care but still firmly, held her wrist as it hovered mere centimetres above the slice. (His new 'pizza-cut-reminder-system' remained unprogrammed.)

"Hold it there Star." He said, looking up. "Now, no-one's denying you made one fine dish here. Right?"

There was a general response of nodding and affirmative grunting.

"But think about it. What was the last thing you cooked up for us?" He continued.

"Uhm... My traditional Tamaranian Gefaltefrak, correct?" With her free hand she reached for her chin, deep in thought.

"And what happened because of that?" Cyborg asked. The quick blush on her face was noticed by all.

"I'm not usually scared, as you know." Spoke Raven dryly. "But those memories still haunt my dreams."

"Exactly." The boy formerly known as Victor Stone continued. "We still can't use the bathroom on the third floor. And before that, weren't there the red slugs?"

"Those were only the best of the Chacktamars I could find! Do you have any idea how far I had to travel for those?" She exclaimed, desperately trying to defend her planet's haute-cuisine.

"No. All I know is that only the best of the doctors managed to pump Robin's and Beast Boy's stomachs clear before they exploded." He felt the pressure she was putting on his hand drop significantly. "And I don't even want to remember what those 'Grogrotors' did to me."

"It were grokrotores" Uttered the space princess, but all defiance in her voice had clearly left.

"So." Stone said, letting go of her hand. "I think one of us deserves this final slice." He watched the girl reluctantly sit down.

"Couldn't agree with you more." An amiable Robin interjected as he patted Cyborg's back. "So I'll just..." He said as he reached for the slice himself.

"Now hold up! When I said one of us, I meant me!" Cy pushed his face close to Robin's.

"Oh yeah? Why you?" The boy wonder asked, with equal enthusiasm. He pressed his forehead against his friend's and stared him dead in the eyes.

"Because I'm taller, bigger and better." Victor answered, refusing to back down.

Just as the tension seemed impossible to top, Starfire shrieked: "I have altered my mind. I still desire that slice!"

A tug of war between the three heroes ensued shortly thereafter. It was fierce. It was ugly. Above all it was short. For Raven, who'd remained rather quiet during this little escapade, uttered three small words. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." And with that the slice began to fly up and glided to her hands. Her three friends noticed this however, simultaneously.

"What the...?" Cyborg managed before the pizza landed in her hands. This was quite a feat, seeing his current situation. Robin's head was clenched between his left arm and his rump. The team-leader was currently torn between trying to free himself and annoying his metallic friend. Apparently, he'd settled for both, with one hand he pulled at the mechanic arm and with the other he pushed Cyborg's face, right on the mouth. Starfire was no more helpful as she sat on his shoulders, pulling his head back.

"Keep your eyes on the price, my friends." She said with a tone of voice that was just a tad playful. Slowly but surely the slice was tauntingly brought to her mouth.

Knowing that if he didn't act soon, all would be lost, the masked boy called for the aid of the only one that could stall her long enough. "Beast Boy, quick, stop her!"

Garfield Logan, who'd all the while continued to stare dead ahead finally uttered something. "Nah, 's cool dudes, she can have it."

The only sound that followed that was the sound of the greasy slice hitting Raven's plate. His four friends remained frozen for a few seconds, Raven's hands were still mid-air trying to grasp the pizza that lay now eight inches lower. But all eyes were fixated on the green boy who'd uttered the words unimaginable during the 'last-slice-brawl'. Something was seriously amiss.

It wasn't until a little while later that the silence was broken. The end to the quiet came from Starfire and Robin's simultaneous fall. Robin due to being released from cyborg's grasp and Starfire sliding of her half-robot-friend's back. It was Starfire who was the first to speak again. She jumped up quickly and asked her green amigo "Friend Beast Boy, did you not enjoy my cooking? Had you preferred the adding of the substance tofu?" It was obvious she worried this would end up on the list along with the grokrotores, the Chacktamars and the Gefaltefrak.

"Nah, it was great Star. I mean it." He answered truthfully. It had been good pizza. On this his taste buds all agreed, even if his mind couldn't fully appreciate it.

"Soooo..." His big-brother figure began, squinting and shifting his eyes between Beast Boy and the last slice. "B, you sick or something man?"

"You have been awfully quiet tonight." The team-leader agreed. "You are Beast Boy right? Not some evil alien bodysnatching supervillain?"

"Are you not well? Just say so and I'll call the ambulance, they're still in our speed-dial and know the way after the last time I cooked." It's quite something to see an orange alien blush red with playful shame.

It took all of the changeling's might to not glance at Raven. He succeeded barely. "No, everything's fine." He lied, waving his hands in a signal to get them to stop asking questions. "I'm just not hungry dudes." The last thing he wanted was to get his other friends involved. What if they sided with Raven? What if they all stopped being his friends?

"Soooo..." His big-brother figure started, again. "Why you letting her have the final slice? You should help me instead BB, I always got your back."

"Uhm..." Beast Boy tried to say something clever. He was a quick thinker but not that quick, not tonight.

"Beast Boy, are you trying to make up for something to Raven?" Robin asked.

The green boy silently cursed his spiky-haired friend for being so quick on the uptake. "No it's not that. It's just that I had a big lunch and..." Then he had it. "Besides, Cy, I'm not helping you after that narrow defeat earlier!"

To bad worming his way out of things, came to no avail. The only one who was derailed by this was Cyborg. "What? Narrow?" He said. "I had such a lead on you it wasn't even close."

"Oh! Were the two of you exchanging the words of bad again?" The alien princess offered, getting the inquisition back on track.

Garfield wished they were having a fight, alas he feared he was not so lucky. Being in a fight with Raven was a terrible ordeal but her deeming him unworthy to quarrel with seemed even worse. But he could not tell his friends that, he'd already done enough to offend the blue-cloaked girl. He had no idea how she was reacting to any of this and dared not look.

"Again?" Cyborg asked, face-palming. "Seriously, is that the only way the two of you can communicate?"

Starfire giggled and after Robin asked her why, she replied. "Oh no, this is inappropriate. I mean, this problem is serious." It took a bit more convincing of her boyfriend to get her to speak her mind. "Well, this is silly, I'm sure, but on my planet the arguments between our two friends could easily be mistaken for Shaelt-stark." When her friends just eyed her dumbfounded she continued. "It's the name for when little kids tease those whom they love. On my planet the young Tamaranians show their affection by yelling the rudest of words at each other so that they leave an impression. That way they know the other child will be thinking of them later on. The more arguments you have and the stronger they are, the more you want someone to think of you. If you were Tamaranian children, you'd be dating by now." She could no longer suppress a light chuckle.

If the changeling had had the ability to turn red, this would have been the moment to do so. However tonight he praised his rather unique complexion. This couldn't get any worse.

And then it did.

"Hey yeah." Said boy wonder, trying to lighten the mood, and doing a horrible job in Garfield's opinion. The smile on his face was enormous. "We have that same thing here on earth. Kids always tease the ones they like because they don't know how to express themselves. So Raven and Beast Boy..."

Cyborg finished his sentence, laughing. "When's the wedding?" He fell down, holding his artificial gut, trying to control himself. Though they did not fall down, Starfire and Robin joined Cyborg in his roaring laughter.

Raven was the first to say something sensible, even if it was mainly to herself. "I think I lost my appetite." Her voice was, as usual, bored and a tad irritated.

In the blink of an eye, Cyborg shot upright. "Then don't mind if I do." He said as he reached for her plate. It was the perfect opportunity, seeing as the real titans-couple was still laughing hard in each-others arms. Before he could even lay a finger on the slice however the room turned red. The alarm was as loud as ever.

In a moment, all five members sprung to attention. Both Beast Boy and Raven had never been so glad to hear the sound of an impending mission. Anything was better than this.

"Who, what and where?" Asked the team leader. This was directed at Cyborg who was directly in contact with all technology of Titans-tower. A few seconds of scanning available data later, he got his answer.

"The Goliath Gym near Bay bridge."

"Then, that means it's..." Both Raven and Beast Boy said together.

"It's Adonis." Victor confirmed.

There was only one thing left to be said and Robin had plenty of training in it. "Titans, Go!"

And so, the fierce five friends flew into the cold and dreary night. The last slice of pizza remained untouched on the middle plate.


	2. Won't get fooled again

Thank you: twolostsouls25 and 5dRaWkCaB for replying to chapter one.

And again, many thanks to Dustin Perry, my beta, for making my work so much easier.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the rights to any of the characters in this chapter.

**Chapter 2: 'Won't get fooled again.'**

**Alternate title:** _Punching bag_

Adonis wasn't the type of villain to do any real threatening 'maniacal laughter'. Nevertheless it was clear he'd been practising. Though it wouldn't have won any kind of evil contest, it would have gotten an A for effort. A single small bag of cash hung over his red, armoured shoulder as he currently stomped a treadmill to pieces and laughed away madly.

Goliath Gym was made up from an entrance hall which led to the separate dressing rooms, a bar, some out-door-sports fields next to a giant pool and ofcourse to the main work-out hall. This giant hall existed from four rooms which together formed a crude square. There were cardio and stamina-training-devices in the first room to the left, where he was right now. The room behind that was filled with weights and other machines devised specifically to produce broad muscles. The room to his right was mostly filled with yoga-equipment and was used for all sorts of group-sessions. The room diagonal to him was a giant, indoors sport-hall, ready for playing soccer, basket and other such sports.

And oh, how he hated this place. Every single room, he hated it so. Right now, apart from him, it was abandoned. But he could still see their faces. All the jocks that had made fun of him. All the losers that had told him he'd always be a weakling. Even after caving in and trying to make himself more like them, by coming to train here, they still laughed. Who was laughing now, huh? He was! He'd found a way to become stronger than all of them combined. He was the Adonis now! It all deserved a good laugh as he smashed the treadmill under his metal sole.

Until he heard the voice, that is.

"Looks like you've got nowhere to run." Said the leader of the Teen Titans. Robin and the rest watched the man in the red mechanized armor turn around and face them.

"I'm not running anywhere." He said in retaliation. "But hey..." He bend down, grabbed the smashed piece of machinery and threw it at his five foes. They ducked out of the way, dispersing. "Tread carefully."

"Truly." Spoke Starfire to her four friends, high up in the sky. "I was not aware that the training facilities on your world housed much money and other valuables to steal."

Cyborg crawled up from the floor after the forced duck. A green fly flew past him towards the villain. "There ain't much cash around here. Adonis is just a big oaf." Said white and blue armoured titan. A bright flash occurred and the next thing he knew, Cyborg was back on the floor. Starfire flew down and started to pull up her friend. They could both see the barrel of the energy-based cannon on Adonis' right arm.

"At least I was smart enough to upgrade, loser." He aimed his second shot at Robin, who was running at him full speed, his long bo-staff in hand, ready to strike. With a lock-on and ready to fire, Adonis still stopped before pulling the trigger when he heard the voice behind him.

"You're still pretty stupid." Said Beast Boy.

By the time Adonis turned, Garfield had already changed into a giant gorilla and punched him square in the face. It send the second-rate villain twirling in a collision-course with Robin. If boy-wonder hadn't been so nimble, he could have seriously gotten hurt. Instead, the caped young hero somersaulted over the approaching menace and even kicked him hard in the chest. The grounds shook as the giant piece of metal hit the floor. Before the villain could get up again, Raven flew up next to him, through the floor, and conjured thick black ropes that bound him down.

"Hey cutie. I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff, but I can get down with it." Adonis mocked as he threw in a fat wink.

"Ugh." Was all the reply Raven felt was necessary.

"But it's clear to me you lightweights don't know the ropes about real training!" He said as he flexed his artificial 'muscles' and broke the binding ropes.

In one swell swoop he swatted Raven out of the way and stood upright. She was caught by Robin and Beast Boy. Adonis aimed his gun again, this time at the defenceless trio. His beam charged for a mere few moments and just as he pulled the trigger he was blasted himself. A combination of blue and orangy-yellow energy hit him right in the shoulder. His own gun got misdirected due to the impact of Starfire's hit. His blast impacted with the ceiling above his targets instead. But that wasn't all it did, it threw him through the wall and into the next room, which housed all the weights and related equipment.

Meanwhile, part of the ceiling above Raven, Beast Boy and Robin started to collapse. For once thinking faster than his teammates, Beast Boy quickly assumed the form of a Columbian mammoth, shielding his friends from most of the impact and giving Robin a chance to get the knocked-out Raven out of the danger zone. It hurt like hell, but at least his friends were safe. By the time he could safely change back, Cyborg and Starfire had already disappeared into the next room. It didn't matter very much, he knew they could handle themselves. Instead of joining them, he therefore jogged over to Robin and the girl he was taking care of. Her head lay on his shoulder and her body limply clung to his as he sat on his knees.

"Dude, is she alright?" Beast Boy asked.

"She's just unconscious. I think she'll be alright.

The changeling sighed with relief. "Thank God."

"It's strange though, that she couldn't hold him down and that his punch had so much effect on her. Anyway, I'll get her on her feet, you go help out the others."

"But..."

"Titan, go!"

Beast Boy saluted out of comical reflex and ran off to help his friends. With one last look at Raven, as he turned around, his feelings of concern transformed into a primal rage.

At the same time their three teammates avoided being crushed to death, Cyborg and Starfire dashed after Adonis. They found him in the next room, holding a double-handed heavy lifters' barbell equipped with weights of about 500lbs. Before they could do anything else he swung it at them. Starfire, being able to fly, successfully avoided it. Cyborg however got hit full-on. The pressure hurled him into the wall. For a few second he thought he'd be able to get up but by then Adonis was all over him. The villain used his powerful suit and the barbell to pin him down. "How much do you press?" He asked with a mad glint in his eyes.

"Man." Cyborg said, trying to struggle his arms free. "I'm only gonna say this once." Deciding he couldn't get his arms free he merely pressed his blaster against Adonis' side. "Your puns are stupid." He fired away. Adonis sank to one knee. A small part of his armour broke off.

A moment later he was hit again, but not by Cyborg. He flew a few feet further, dropping the barbell, as Starfire knocked him over the head. "Agreed. Your choosing of the words is 'filled with the aw'."

A momentary silence hung over the fighters. "Are you trying to say it's awful?" Adonis asked, rubbing his head as he crawled upright.

A confused Starfire turned to her friend who gave her a nod of confirmation. "Oops." The female alien replied, embarrassed. Shades of red filled her orange cheeks.

This little diversion was all Adonis needed. He quickly raised his arm and the cannon attached and blasted. The first shot hit Starfire, who was propelled away through multiple walls. "Oops." Adonis mocked. His second shot was directed at Cyborg who, in seeing his friend get hit, had enough time to shoot his own gun. Both targets were hit. The impacts were enormous and by the time the dust settled, only Adonis stood upright, battered but not beaten. His energy-based gun was severely damaged however.

"I knew things would... _work-out_?" He laughed at his own joke until he remembered his enemy's words. "Stupid Cyborg, I am funny." Adonis coughed wearily. "Besides I'm Adonis! You hear me?" He aimed his blaster at Cyborg, who struggling to get upright. I've got the better tech and nature's never brought forth a better specimen then me!"

"Maybe we should find out together." The call made Adonis turn around, he saw the little green titan stand across the room. "You see, I've got a whole catalogue right here."

Adonis' now worthless gun retracted into the armour of his arm. "Okay, sure. But first... Let's hit the gym!"

He pounced the ground hard, creating a rift in the floor headed straight for Beast Boy. By the time it reached him, however, Garfield was no longer there. Instead there was a cheetah running past the broken up earth, heading fast for the source. Before Adonis could even properly recover from his display of immense strength (or at least immensely strong armor) the swift cat was on him. It's claws raked his suit as the feline pushed itself away from him. Garfield landed behind his enemy and quickly morphed. Adonis, slightly worried about the cracks in his suit, was a little slow to turn around. When he did, however, he no longer saw the cheetah but a giant green kangaroo. Especially the beast's back legs were incredibly noteworthy, as they expanded and expanded until they took up everything within the villain's line of sight.

The force of impact knocked him on his back. When he reopened his eyes an off-coloured rhino stomped it's paws on his chest. Every blow was followed by the next so rapidly that there was not much for Adonis to do but grunt. Every shock made him lose control of his mechanized suit. No matter how many times he tried to retake it, another stomp was there to knock it out of grasp once more.

This was all to familiar. Him on the ground, a bigger, overpowered bully knocking him down. His entire life he'd tried to become stronger than them, but no matter how much he tried, it would seem he was destined to fail. The jocks back then, the Titans now. It was all so unfair. All the emotions he had as a small frightened kid returned now, full force. The flashbacks of the locker he'd been put in, the humiliation of the time they stole his pants in the middle of school, every time he got picked last for any sport, all the beatings, ... It was so unfair. All he'd wanted was to feel that power. Hadn't he been entitled to that? For all his suffering. The memories were too much. Adonis cried.

Even in his enraged state, at the suffering his friends had gone through, Beast Boy's heart proved to be great. Sadly, his sense wasn't as vast. Seeing his foe snivelling and pleading for him to stop, was enough to invoke his pity. Still pressuring him down as a rhino, he stopped his constant pounding.

"Why do you bullies keep doing this to me?" Adonis' tears covered his cheeks by now. "What have I done wrong? What have I done to you? I just want to be left alone! Leave me alone!" He cried between sobs.

Garfield Logan reappeared, standing on top of the red exoskeleton. He changed so that he could talk some sense into the sorrowful creature beneath his legs. Too bad for him, this also left him vulnerable. "Dude, look, if you don't want us to ..." That's as far as he got.

Because by that time, Adonis had resumed control over his suit and diverted all extra power to his left arm. The strike was hard, without being in a strong animal body, the impact was dire for the teen boy. Later, the green lad couldn't even recall Adonis yelling 'gotcha'.

As he crashed between some weights he, in futility, raised his arm, his index finger pointing upward. "Dude." He managed wearily. His arms dropped, the world was blurry and he couldn't even begin to focus changing into an animal. He was dully aware the villain loomed over him. As Adonis (one of the three blurry shapes he saw as Adonis had to be real) raised his right foot, he even had the sense to think: 'Oy. This is gonna hurt'. The heavy metal foot sank quickly, to deliver the finishing blow.

Adonis had indeed, after wiping the tears of his face, now replaced with a giant grin, gotten up and had walked over to the puny hero before him. He hated them all, but this one in particular. The first time they'd faced off this little runt had had the luck to get the better of him. Even the second match between them, though he couldn't remember any of it, he'd lost to this pathetic excuse for a Titan. They'd both squared off as some sort of werewolves and still he'd been beaten! But no more. This time he'd make sure the little guy stayed down. With the mad grin still plastered on his face he raised his foot, savouring the moment. This was the beginning of a whole new world for him. A world in which he could be 'the Adonis' and no longer a wimp. And all it took was the squishing of a dorky, little geek. His foot went down hard.

But it never reached it's destination. When it was a few mere centimetres away from BB's face, Adonis was hit by two 50 kilogram plates, levitated by Raven herself. The force wasn't enough to send him flying but he did stagger back. Adonis' right foot landed a few millimetres from the changeling's own feet. Raven sank down, clearly exhausted.

Luckily, Robin was there to take over. His discs flew continuously at Adonis, forcing him to cover his exposed face and taking small, staggering steps backwards. By the time the giant uncovered his eyes, Grayson had already moved in close enough. With one leap he jumped up and, staff in hand, hit him hard over the head. After all his team had gone through, Adonis' grunt of dismay was like music to Robin's ears. He hit him again and again and again. Harder and harder and harder. But just as he was about to strike for the the fifth time, his enemy grabbed his weapon in his two hands at either side and easily broke it.  
Knowing that any advantage in combat must be taken without hesitation, Robin acted almost instinctively. With Adonis' two arms wide open he jumped up, kicked the villain in his face and so used it to launch himself away. One back-flip later and Robin already reached for another weapon, his hands found some freeze-discs in his belt. He didn't have time to throw them however, as at that moment the infantry arrived.

Standing in the rubble of the hole between this room and the next, both Starfire and Victor stone reappeared in the nick of time. With the combined strength of Cyborg's laser and Star's eye-beam, the foe was quickly rendered harmless. Or at least, almost. When they saw Adonis go down, they stopped blasting. Cyborg still aimed his cannon at the enemy however, deciding he wouldn't let him get the upper hand again.

Starfire flew over to her fallen friend. Not to Raven, who was sitting a few metres away from him, but to Beast Boy. She seemed tired and was still breathing deeply, but appeared otherwise fine. BB looked a whole lot worse.

"Beast Boy!" She called out. As she sank by his side she quickly noticed he was indeed conscious, his eyes still trying empty attempts to focus. "Please friend." She tried, holding up four fingers. "Enlighten me with the number of fingers you witness me holding in upright position."

Logan tried real hard. "Blue?" He ventured.

Starfire bit her lip in agony. She then proceeded to look over to Raven, who was still weary and sitting down. "I'm sure he'll be fine." She said, reassuringly.

"Whatever." Was all Raven seemed to have to say, which shocked Starfire even further.

Meanwhile, a few metres over, Cyborg noticed the discs in his leader's hands. "Do your thing man." He told him encouragingly. They both knew the freeze-discs could hold their enemy captive.

Boy Wonder nodded as an answer. "Adonis. You've had your warming up, you've had your work-out. Now, it's time for your 'cool-down'." The spiky teen said and threw the freeze-discs.

He should have thrown them sooner because during his little quip, the mechanical macho had grabbed a barbell and used it to push himself upright. In a quick spin he swung the metal rod like a bat and hit the disc just right. It flew straight back to Robin who was flash-frozen up to his waste. Without the ability to move anywhere or even to take something out of his utility-belt, boy wonder bashed at the ice madly, trying to get free.

"And you say my puns are bad?" Adonis asked mockingly to Cyborg.

Cyborg's response was a quick blast but Adonis was able to duck. Instead of blowing the bad guy away, the shot made a giant hole in the wall. Adonis tried to swiftly roll up again but his armour was starting to give. Therefore, while still on one knee, he threw the barbell like a javelin. Through luck or skill or both it hit Cyborg right in the arm, with enough velocity to penetrate all that circuitry and pin him to the wall, effectively disabling his blaster in the process. In a bitter struggle, the teen titan tried to get his mechanical arm free, but it went very slow. Adonis laughed victoriously as he got up.

"Stop your laughter!" A voice defied him. It was Starfire who, after gently laying down her green friend, stood upright. The villain turned to face her but was across the room. In an angry move she threw five energy bolts. "You will hurt my friends no more this night!"

Once again Adonis was able to dodge the incoming attack, but Starfire was all the way across the room, there was no way he'd get to her without getting hit. His armour was starting to wear down and he knew from personal experience, that Starfire was a force to be reckoned with. "If you insist. He said. Turning around, he sprinted for the hole in the wall made by Cyborg mere moments before. Beyond it lay the cold outside world, basking in the night. He jumped through and made his escape.

"Come back you coward!" The infuriated alien screamed. "This is not yet the over!" She made haste to give chase.

"Yes it is, Star." Robin sighed loudly enough to make his girlfriend halt. "We underestimated him, look around." Starfire did as he asked and saw what he meant. "Cyborg's pinned down, Raven's exhausted, Beast Boy is down and I'm literally on ice."

"But I can..." She started in a futile attempt.

"I believe there's a good chance you could." Her boyfriend replied. "But seeing our track-record tonight, I don't want to risk it. I also don't want to risk the well-being of our team. We're getting them home."

"But what if the Adonis does something horrible again?" She reasoned.

"Next time, we'll be ready. I don't like to admit it, we lost the battle. But Starfire, I promise you, this war ain't over. Now please, can you help me before my toes freeze off!?"

Somewhat reluctantly, Starfire complied.

* * *

A few kilometers further, Adonis slowed his pace. At least, his suit slowed down. The wear and tear was was extensive, he realized now. As the sweat ran across his face he did his best to keep it moving. This seemed to include him cursing to the infernal contraption. Right now he was glad the five weren't following him anymore. The upgrades were quite something, but if he had had to face the orange girl as well in the end, he wouldn't have gotten away.

Adonis kept going on ferociously until he reached the abandoned warehouse 5 clicks from Gym. It might not have been as far away from those teenaged heroes as he'd liked, but that ought to teach him for picking a target so close to his lair. Oh yes, if there was anything his time with the brotherhood had thought him, it was that a proper villain needed a proper hide-out. Though the old warehouse itself didn't look like it, it was heavily fortified. The crummy state any passerby would see it in, would be enough to not raise suspicion. The building was tall, and square and looked like a cliche from some second-rate horror-flick. Adonis thought it was perfect.

As the hidden scanner above the heavy metal, entrance checked his eyes, Adonis realized he'd lost the bag of cash in the brawl. It wasn't a lot of money but the thought mattered. Every time he tried something those brats would gang up on him. He could take any of the wimps alone, he knew that. But they just teamed up, just like the jocks used to in school. How he hated them all. He wanted to kill every last one of them.

Well, perhaps not the hooded girl. She was feisty. Adonis contemplated on making some sort of hypnotic ray to force her to be his girlfriend as the doors automatically opened and he walked inside.

Unlike the outdated exterior of the building, it's innards were quite up to date. Upon a time it had looked quite differently and it had had three stories. But seeing as the machinery used for fixing his suit consisted of two giant, cylinder shaped energy-tanks, he had seen the need to remove all these floors and put up new walls as he pleased. Right now he stood in the entrance hall, which was no more than a small corridor. He walked through it and reached a crossroads. Ahead would lead him to his computer-room, the place were he planned all his nefarious deeds. Right would lead him to his living quarters.

Adonis took left, it was there he could store his suit and repair it later on. These quarters consisted of three aligned rooms. The one he came into was the middle one. If he walked to the door on the left side of this place he'd find a storage-unit for all his spare parts. If he took the door opposite to that he'd end up in his laboratory where he made new improved parts for his suit. Though he knew he would have need for both rooms later on, he merely walked to the giant machine that occupied most of the far-end wall of the middle room. In front of the giant cylinders was a piece of metal with a hole in it that was shaped exactly like his mechanized armour. Next to that was the giant computer he'd use to run diagnostics on, and deliver updates into the suit. It looked like it belonged to a deranged scientist, which I suppose it did as a matter of fact. Next to that was a coat-hanger, supporting a red bathrobe and some regular pieces of clothing.

He did the same procedure he'd done a hundred times before. Turn back. Step back. Guide in the electronic wires. Command the suit to open. Jump down.

This time however, due to his fatigue, he didn't even undo his jumpsuit. Rather he just put on the bathrobe and called it a night. The boy headed back through the entrance he came through, ignored the computer room and walked straight into the living quarters. The first room he arrived in was the salon. In the middle stood a huge, red couch shaped like a crescent moon. From it, he could always watch his favourite shows on the giant flat-screen above the doorway. The same doorway in which he now stood frozen in surprise. There were some motivational posters put on the walls which he used to look at when he needed the strength to finish his armor. There were some book shelves and cupboards in which he had interesting stuff to pass his nights. There was even a safe containing his loot. But right now, all those things were irrelevant. He merely looked over to his bar in the far right corner of the room. Especially the unexpected female guest had his attention.

"Good to zee you again, Adonis." Madame Rouge spoke in her thick accent, shaking a cocktail. "I do hope you vont mind me pouring myzelf a liddle drink?" She asked him politely and started pouring the mixture into two glasses. In each glass was a single cherry.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were still in jail." The boy asked in a mistrusting tone of voice as he squinted his eyes at her.

"Come now, old friend. Iz that a vay to treat a lady?" She picked up both drinks, the one in her left went to her mouth, the one in her right was transported all the way to the unwilling host. It was a useful power, the ability to stretch your body like that.

"How did you get past my security systems?" He tried with a different approach.

"A voman haz her vays." She replied coyly. She then proceeded to eat the cherry in her glass.

"But. If. You. Must. Know. It. Was. Honestly. Not. That. Easy." The sound did not come from madame Rouge and droned on without any intonation.

The computerized, deadly voice was enough to make the young man avert his attention from the woman to the source at his left. In another doorway stood the brain. It was once again in it's skull-painted transport vehicle the lad had seen him in so many times when he was still part of the brotherhood of evil. And where the brain was...

"You should be proud of yourself. It took us a while and a lot of close-calls. I don't like close-calls." … the ape was not far behind. Monsieur Mallah stood in the doorway to his right. He had to say no more in that thick accent of his, he looked menacing enough.

"Yes. This. Base. Will. Serve. Our. Purposes. Splendidly. My. Dear. Friend." The hated droning continued.

"Though ve vill have to redecorate." Said the red lady slightly annoyed, finishing her drink. "Thiz iz such a boyz place. But don't vorry. I'm sure you vill like the adjuztmentz I've planned."

"So." The boy asked, thinking he understood the situation. "You wan't me to rejoin the brotherhood and use my lair as a base of operations to destroy the Teen Titans." He sipped his drink, mulling it over. It certainly had an appeal to it, these other villains were smart and strong and with his new upgrades they could definitely take down the Titans. "Perhaps we could ask Cynderblock to join us, we keep in touch sometimes."

"Not entirely so." Said monsieur Mallah, closing in slowly.

The man in the red bathrobe backed away, slightly faster.

"We. Do. Want. Your. Hide. Out. But. This. May. Come. To. You. As. A. Shock."

Adonis felt a sharp, pain erupt in his back and spread across his body quickly. Every muscle in his body tightened and he quickly found himself losing consciousness. He sank to his knees and then fell over completely. Behind him stood General Immortus, holding an electrical prod.

"We. Need. You. For. Something. Else. Monsieur. Mallah. Make. Sure. Our. Friend. Is. Secured. General. Immortus. Have. Your. Troops. Start. Redecorating. This. Place. Madame. Rouge. Go. And. Find. Our. Good. Friend. Chang." The leader of the brotherhood declared.

His team moved at his command.

* * *

A good ten minutes after Adonis had left the Teen Titans were all back on their feet. Battered but not broken they moved towards the T-car, parked just outside the nearly abandoned Gym. Robin put something in the trunk and moved for the front-passenger seat. They left the only attendant, an old security guard who in cowardice had hidden from Adonis and the big fight, and asked him to inform the police of what had happened here this night. Though Cyborg was initially reluctant about this because then the fact that they'd lost this fight would be made public. However he understood that it was the right thing to do and eventually complied.

As they neared the T-car, Beast Boy, remarked something vital. Still rubbing his head due to his major headache he asked his friend. "Hey Cy, how are you going to drive with only one hand?" It was a valid point. Cyborg's right hand was still looked like a scrapheap of shards of metal and circuitry. The barbell had done quite some damage. "Maybe you should let me drive, huh?" The green boy continued hopefully.

Victor Stone was standing at the other side of the vehicle at the drivers seat, the doorhandle was in his good hand as he replied. "B if I'm not going to let you drive when you are alright, what makes you think I'd let you risk my baby when you've got some sort of concussion?" He climbed in the car and shut the door.

When BB sank himself in his seat as the last passenger, sitting behind Robin and next to Starfire (who in her turn sat next to Raven) he answered the question. "Maybe my concussion."

"Just get in." Robin complained. "The sooner we're out of this cold, the better."

The half-man, half-robot chuckled. "Don't worry Beast Boy." He said, pulling out a wire from the back of his neck. He plugged it into the T-car's dashboard. "I can drive this beauty hands-free. Just don't try this at home kids." He laughed at his own joke. "And don't worry Robin, the internal heating-system is online." The engine started and Cyborg started the long journey home.

"Strange." Robin said mostly to himself, lost in thought.

"Not really. Our friend Cyborg is always up to the date with the latest of gadgets." Starfire offered.

"No, not that Star." Robin said, trying to make himself clear. "It's just that when you guys talked about Beast Boy's concussion, I was sure Raven would make some sort of remark like: 'A concussion might help Beast Boy'. Or 'You can't hurt what you don't have'."

"Dude, not cool." Garfield spoke in retaliation, rubbing his hurt head but unable to soothe his hurt pride.

"Yeah, that's right Rae." Cyborg continued, "You love ripping on BB. What gives, why ain't ya in the zone?"

In one blink all eyes in the car were turned on Raven, even Cyborg glanced from the road to the rear-view mirror in order to see her reaction.

"I was just mulling about our tremendous defeat back there." Said Raven, clearly uninterested in teasing Beast Boy at this moment. She didn't bat an eye.

"I hear that!" Stone replied in agreement. "Someone mind telling me how we lost to that second-rate villain when we've taken down bad guys like Slade, Brother Blood, Raven's old man and the 'Brotherhood of Evil'?"

"I suppose I could have paid more attention to the fight and not let myself get distracted by my bad choice of words." Said Starfire apologetically. Her eyes were now focused on her lap in shame.

"Don't feel too bad Starfire." Robin filled in. "If I hadn't tried to show off with some long pun, he'd be an ice-cube by now."

"Yeah, and even though I say that pinning me down like that was a lucky one-in-a-million shot, I suppose I could have been more careful." Cyborg admitted reluctantly.

"I even had him down." Logan continued the sharing of blame. "If I hadn't taken pity on him when he cried he'd be in jail by now, where he belongs."

"I had him first. If I hadn't underestimated his upgrades I could have hold him in my grip, saving us all a lot of trouble." The statement was droned in Raven's usual controlled voice but somewhere in it hided a faint sense of shame.

"Next time, team, we don't hold anything back." Robin said.

The five teens thought of their actions and defeat in silence for the rest of the ride. It wasn't until they returned to the tower and entered their giant living-room, finding that Silkie had eaten the last slice, that someone talked again. It was Garfield.

"I really hate that guy." He said. Walking over to the cupboards and pulling out a glass and an aspirin. He filled the glass with tab-water and let the pill dissolve.

"I think we all do not like him very much right now." Starfire said, walking over to the table and picking up a happily sleeping Silkie. She petted him lovingly.

"No. I really hate him."

He grabbed a spoon and shook the mixture to speed things up. When he looked up he saw Starfire eyeing him from over at the table flanked by both Robin with a package on his lap and Cyborg. Both boys were seated. All three were looking at him to continue. Only Raven seemed disinterested as she had reclaimed her place in the sofa with her book.

"It's not just the dude's attitude." Logan clarified. He took a sip and continued. "It's not even just the fact that he beat us, hard. Remember the first time we fought him?"

"The night you got those chemicals poured all over you?" Cyborg asked.

"And you both transformed into those weird werewolves?" Robin asked before Beast Boy could even nod.

"And we thought you had kidnapped Raven and had to fight you, but you kicked the butt so much you could not be defeated?" Starfire continued.

"Sounds vaguely familiar, for some reason..." Robin joked.

Beast Boy nodded in agreement and finished his drink.

"Do you blame Adonis for that?" Starfire asked, remembering correctly that it was technically Beast Boy who pushed the two in harms way.

BB seated himself on a bar-stool and supported his head with his right arm. "Not exactly. He did have this way of pushing me to do everything to stop him because I couldn't take his arrogant ego any longer. But do you remember after we fought as werewolves and brought him back to the Tower."

"To administer the antidote." Robin agreed, confirming he did indeed remember.

"Yeah well. Check this out. He told me, right, when he still thought there was no antidote at all, that he was grateful for what I'd done." The green boy continued.

"Whoa, B, you telling me he was thankful you beat him up and stopped him from hurting Raven? You hearing this Raven?" Cyborg asked confused. He looked over to Raven. Only seeing the back of her head and shoulders, it was still clear that she simply shrugged.

"No dude!" BB intervened, waving his hands to stop his friend and let him know he had the wrong idea. "He was glad I transformed us." He sat up straight. "He could remember just as little as I could. But he did remember all that power."

"I always wondered why you don't use that form more often, actually." Robin interjected. "It's probably your best combination of speed, strength and agility."

"If it could fly, it would be perfect for any situation." Starfire agreed.

"Because I hate it." Beast Boy sighed his explanation. "It means giving in to a sort of scary rage and unlike any other form I can't keep my mind straight. I have no recollection of it afterwards, it's like I erased myself from existence. And all I remember is all that anger. It's creepy dudes. When I turn into that... that thing I become something else, something awful. And that's why I hate him so. He felt the same things but enjoyed it all. He wanted nothing more than that power. The same power that caused me so much suffering..."

The room was silent for a little while. The only sound came from the softly snoring Silkie and Raven, who turned a page.

"Then again..." Garfield said as a smile formed on his face. "It was pretty cool to beat you guys."

"You'll never change, now will you man?" Cyborg laughed. "And don't you worry, I got a plan to find him. Robin, you bring what I asked you?"

"Got it right here Cy." Robin answered, holding up the package he'd put in the trunk of the T-car. He handed it over.

"What is it?" Starfire asked as Victor unwrapped the cloth around it.

"It's the piece of Adonis' armour I blasted off." The cybernetic man answered as he showed the red piece of machinery proudly.

"Perhaps I am not accustomed to your earthly ways." Starfire started shyly. "But I do not understand how that will help us find the bad guy."

"I never told anyone this before." Cyborg answered in order to clarify. "But after we stopped Brother Blood when he used my stolen blue-prints to make his fortress I started to make a special computer to detect my machinery. That way, if it was ever used again, and activated, I could see it immediately and make sure no-one used my tech for bad reasons. The computer is fairly large, so I couldn't bring it over to the 'Titans-East Tower' but it is operational here. With some adjustments I can make it track this kind of armor when it's activated. It'll take most of the night to recalibrate the computer. But if I'm guessing correctly it will take Adonis some time to repair his armor as well so it won't be activated any time soon anyway. But when it does, we'll know where he's hiding."

"Wonderful!" Starfire exclaimed.

"I'll help you reset your computer, Cyborg." Robin answered loyally.

"Thanks man. I appreciate the help. Let's not waste anymore time, okay?" Cyborg replied and stood up. Followed by Robin he made for the giant door.

"I'll come help too." Beast Boy volunteered and jumped of his seat. But with standing up the headache made it's pressence aware, once more in full force. "Aah." He moaned as he rubbed his temples.

"Yeah... I appreciate the offer, B." Victor said slowly as he turned around. "But remember when I let you help me fix the T-car?"

"Those explosions were completely unrelated to me." Beast Boy said. His eyes shifted from left to right, betraying the fact that he knew they weren't. "And anyway, you can't prove anything."

"And when you helped me fix the R-Cycle, the tires mysteriously vanished." Robin stressed.

"Hey! That could have been anybody's fault. For all you know it was aliens. Besides, I got you new ones, didn't I?" Beast Boy said, trying to defend his honour.

"Yeah, shipped out of China. Five weeks and two attacks by Johnny Rancid later."

"Look B. I really appreciate it but seriously man, you look beat. Get some rest okay?" From the tone in Cyborg's voice, though not completely unfriendly, it was clear the discussion was over.

BB grumbled. "Fine."

"I think I'll go to my room as well." Raven declared. She stood up and passed the former ruler of Tamaran and the changeling. "If he does show up tonight or tomorrow morning, that way I'll be ready for him." She followed in the footsteps of the already gone Cyborg and Robin.

During the entire walk to her room, through the dark, cold, metallic and empty hallways, Raven was by herself and thought of her lousy performance during the fight. She wasn't particularly relieved, however, when her green teammate broke her train of self-directed blames. She was a few mere meters away from her room.

"Uh Raven?" The green morphing-master spoke carefully, knowing he was on thin ice. Actually he'd have welcomed thin ice because he already felt like he was drowning. "I just wanted to tell you something."

Raven turned around, no emotion visible in her eyes or on any other distinguishing feature of her face. "Then say it."

"I just wanted to tell you; thanks. Thanks for saving me back there." The green Titan scratched the back of his head. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, Adonis would have squished me like a fly." He stared hopefully at Raven, wanting her to say something. She didn't. "Is it silly of me to take it as a sign that you might be able to forgive me, then, one day, maybe? Pretty please? I really am sorry dude."

This time she did speak. It was a cold tone. Cold enough to freeze the ice thick shut above the imaginary, drowning changeling. "I'm a Titan. I save anybody, it's what we do. You fall under the category of 'anybody'." This time it was Beast Boy who didn't reply. She didn't hang around for him to neither. She turned to walk over to her room and opened the door.

"Raven... I really want to make up for what I said. I just don't know how." Beast Boy implored to her back as she stood in the doorway.

"You don't have to. All you have to do is accept reality and get your feelings under control instead of boring me with them." She closed the door behind her.

For a moment Beast Boy stood frozen. He'd tried. He'd tried so hard to make it right. And this was how it was rewarded? "Fine!" He shouted. "I've had enough of your attitude. You know what dude?! I'm not even sorry anymore!"

The anger rose up inside him. He added something he didn't really mean but in his rage he no longer cared. The frustrated part of him wanted to hurt her and the rest of him desired some form of emotional confirmation that he wasn't dead to her. "I should have let Adonis rip you to shreds when we were wolves!" It wasn't the best insult but with all that had been going on, it was the only thing that popped in his mind.

He turned and looked into the eyes of Starfire. She stood at the far end of the hallway, looking at him with great sadness written all over her face. Instinctively he knew she'd heard all of, not just his own tantrum. Garfield was glad he was to frustrated for tears.

"What are you looking at?" He asked hotly, the fury still burning in his veins. He turned again and stomped off in the opposite direction, off to his room. Here he'd change himself into a mouse and try his best to find comfort between his blankets. A mouse seemed appropriate for he felt like vermin already.

Solemnly and shocked Starfire realized she had to do something as she stood there, alone in the dark hall. But it would have to wait to the next day. In his state of mind Beast Boy was not fit for reason and if she talked to Raven right now, the girl would know she'd been just outside her room and had heard the entire fight.

Yes, it was best to wait 'till morning.


	3. Caution: Unstable Walls

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any of the rights.

My internet-connection is gone. It's been pretty hectic so I haven't been able to upload any sooner. My apologies, for it is barely an excuse. I've also been working on the last chapters, I think I've got about half of chapter 11 finished and a small part of the last chapter.

Thanks to twolostsouls25 for replying and a special thanks to anyone who so for favorited this story or has added it to his or her follow list. It means a lot to me. And thank you for reading.

R&R, but only if you feel like it.

And above all, enjoy.

**Chapter three: 'Caution: Unstable Walls.'  
**

**Alternate title: **Fanfiction and jokes and emotions, oh my!

* * *

When Starfire entered the great living-room the next morning, trying to get some breakfast, she found two of her friends already sitting across the table. Cyborg and Robin looked beat as they sat next to eachother behind a laptop. Though only Cyborg still looked focused. Robin was eating some cereal and absentmindedly reading the box. His mask was pointing down, never a good sign. Cyborg's usual plate of eggs, bacon and ham was already empty. Starfire figured they'd still worked in shifts as they came to get breakfast. Had they slept at all last night?

The Tamaranian grabbed a bowl and spoon from the kitchen herself, alongside some mustard, and took a seat next to Robin. As a morning greeting she kissed him on the cheek. In response boy wonder looked over to her and for the first time that morning noticed she was there.

"Hey." He said, obviously worn out.

"Please tell me you have not been the stalling the in all night? Please Robin, tell me you got the sleep." Starfire's voice was not angry but worried as she poured herself some cereal. Rather than adding milk, she put in the mustard.

Robin squinted hard as he tried to figure out what his girlfriend was saying "I may have dozed off for a small hour. But no, we installed it a little while back." He managed finally. "Now we're just running diagnostics on the data from the shard. We hope we can find out why he was so powerful."

"You should not be awake for that. That can wait. You should go and do the resting Robin. And you too friend Cyborg."

"What's that?" Cyborg asked, still furiously typing into the board, not really paying attention.

"I'm saying you should go to the bed." Starfire answered pressingly.

"Yeah Yeah, I've fed. Thanks for asking Star." Cyborg replied slightly annoyed due to lack of sleep and being kept of work. "Eggs, bacon, ham, breakfast of champions."

"That's not what I..." Starfire started, only to be interrupted.

"We'll go catch some shut eye later." Robin reassured her honestly. "We just got hungry. After all this is done I'll go to sleep. I think I'm getting a headache anyway. Just, please, try to avoid making loud noises."

"GOOD MORNING AND SUNSHINE FELLOW TITANS!" The changeling yelled loudly as he entered through the sliding door.

A small spasm went through Robin's body and he reached for his head. "I had to ask." He said to himself.

"All right!" Beast Boy continued bright and chipper. "Who's up for tofu eggs?" Seemingly in a quick blur he disappeared behind the counter. Before anyone could say anything all sorts of cooking equipment flew from the cupboards as an unseen Logan rummaged through them. When fell back down the metallic clangs were enough to make Robin sigh and cover his ears.

Though Cyborg hadn't been paying attention earlier, the mention of his green friends tofu-eggs would always bring him to attention. "Man, nobody don't want no damn tofu-eggs." He said out of reflex. "That stuff's nasty but you can make me some more bacon and ham if you like."

When Beast Boy reappeared he wore a chef's hat that the rest of his team would swear to never have seen before. He also wore a white apron and a fake, thin moustache. He spoke in a horrible French accent. "Aha, but I will have you know I make a divine tofu-omelette." He used his index-finger and thumb to make a circle. "C'est magnifique. You Americans have no real taste for such fine matters." He continued in his normal voice as he disappeared behind the counter again. "Come on dudes, don't knock it until you try it." Having found the pan he apparently desired, Beast Boy resurfaced. Once again he was dressed all normal. A quick dash to the fridge later and he was preparing his egg's sunny side up. All the while he whistled loudly, much to Robin's dismay.

"You seem in a good mood." Starfire said carefully, remembering last night's encounter well.

"Yeah. You seem more you than usual." Robin agreed. He drank the last of the milk in his bowl.

"Well Star. I feel great." The green Titan answered, ignoring Robin's remark. "I'm sorry for being such a downer yesterday. Guess that losing to Adonis and that concussion really had me bad. But a good night's sleep later and I'm feeling like an all new Beast Boy!"

Beast Boy glanced over his shoulder to his orange friend with a bright smile. But there was something off about his smile. It seemed forced. However, Starfire was no dummy, she could take a hint and would not raise the subject of last night's fight between him and Raven. "My heart is just full of the joy for your spirit." She answered instead.

"Hey!" Beast boy said and you could practically see the light-bulb flicker on above his head. "How about I make you my famous eggplant-tomato-rhubarb-omelet-super-deluxe?"

"Infamous is more like it." Cyborg chuckled, still not taking his eyes from the screen. "I know Tamaranians eat a lot of weird stuff, Starfire, but for the love of life don't do it."

"Ah, come on. I've got enough energy for five Beast Boy's today. I can make it lickety-split." Beast Boy continued, his hands clasped in begging position.

Robin shivered noticeably. Even Cyborg took notice.

"What's the matter?" Starfire asked in a concerned way.

"Oh nothing. I just had a vision of the world if it had five Beast Boys in it." Grayson joked.

"Man, I'm going to have nightmares now." Cyborg joined in.

"What do you think they'd do?" Robin asked, turning to his metallic friend. "Cause despair? Run havoc?" Smiles appeared on their faces.

"Ban meat?" He asked in return, turning to his spiky-haired friend.

"Destroy everybody's stuff?"

"Become the world's worst video-game team?"

"No. No. I got it, they'd try to become a boys-band."

"The Beastie Boys!" Cyborg chimed in.

The two laughed hard, supporting each-other. Garfield's expression was immovably stern as he spoke. "Okay. You bro's have clearly been awake for far too long."

The duo was still finishing up their laugh as the door opened again. The final Titan emerged.

"Hey. Maybe Raven would like some of your tofu-eggs." Cyborg offered as he turned back to his computer.

It was only obvious to Starfire because she was looking for it, but there it was. When her two friends locked eyes there was a glance of rage. It still burned as strong as last night when she saw it in his eyes. The other female Titan, however, portrayed no emotion what so-ever. She had always been harder to read.

"So how about that omelet Star?" Beast Boy asked. It was clear he was trying to 'subtly' leave out Raven.

"I already have my cereal. Thanks though good friend. Your offer is most kind." Starfire answered.

"I'm just looking for herbal tea this morning." Said the Azarathian.

As soon as Raven entered the kitchen, Beast Boy turned off the stove, slid his eggs on his plate, grabbed some cutlery and moved over to the table. He didn't appear to want to be near the blue-haired girl as she heated the water. Starfire doubted his food was as ready as he'd liked. Nonetheless he gulped it down happily.

"Hey, dudes. You want to hear a joke?" He asked.

"Be with ya in a moment B." Cyborg said as he lifted his left hand away from the laptop. His index finger pointed upwards. "Aaaaand. Done."

"Great, you get anything useful then?" Robin asked excitedly.

"There's an old saying I often like to use. It goes 'Boo' and then 'Yah'. Sadly, it doesn't apply here. Nothing really useful whatsoever." Cyborg replied.

"Wait. So we stayed up an extra two hours for nothing!?"

"Exactly. But at least we installed that computer to track the signal of his suit whenever Adonis activates it."

"I need my bed."

"Yeah and I need my charger. I'm just going to check my mail and be done with it."

"So, joke?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.

"Sure." Robin replied downtrodden. "Whatever."

"Awesome! Okay, so 'Captain America', 'Thor' and 'Magneto' walk into a bar. And there's this waiter wearing an eye-patch, right?"

"What the hell?" Cyborg asked, staring at his screen.

"I know dude. I know. Just stay with it, it's great I swear. So Captain America..."

"No, no. Wait. Hold up B you guys have got to check this."

"What is it? Adonis?" Robin asked, springing to attention.

Across the table, not far from but not close to Beast Boy, Raven sat herself down.

"No. Controlfreak."

"Oh great, just what we needed." Raven remarked. "What's he done now? Stolen the world's oldest television?"

"No." Said Cyborg, lookin up with a blank expression. "He's sent us a fan-fiction story."

"He what?" Robin's expression was as dumbstruck as Cyborg's.

"What a weirdo." Beast Boy declared. "So anyway. After the three get some drinks Thor says 'I've been having some problems with my hammer lately.'"

"You should delete it." Raven advised. "You never know if it's some trap and I don't feel like getting sucked into another fake world he controls."

"Well I did naturally. But I found out there are all these websites dedicated to fan-fiction. And a lot of them are writing about us."

"This is what you call here on earth: 'the creepy'. Yes?" Starfire asked, wondering if she used that correctly.

"Damn straight." Robin said.

"Yeah. All of 'the creepy'." Cyborg agreed.

"So then the donkey enters with a plate full of jell-o..." Said Beast Boy who'd ignored his friends absence of mind and just continued his joke.

"Check out these titles." Cyborg offered his team.

"And so magneto says to Captain America..."

"Titans United. The glory of Raven. Inner Demons. Path of the righteous. The Star in the night. The new Titan. Metal Man Unleashed."

"Uh, dudes..." Beast Boy tried as he finally realized nobody was paying attention to him and his joke. "I'm telling you my best stuff here."

"No offence Beast Boy." Robin answered. "But right now, I'd rather talk about this. Nobody wants to hear your joke right now."

"But... But... But my joke has a monkey on a trampoline, uncanny behaviour, seven nuns and a lot of hilarious subtext, if I do say so myself."

"Oh lord." Cyborg said, his neck stretching as far away from the screen as possible.

"What?" Raven asked.

"Man this is just wrong. They're pairing us all together and stuff."

"Uh... You mean like Star and me?" Robin ventured.

"Yeah bro, the two of you are popular. But some of these stories... let's say they're not all that teen-friendly my fellow teen titans."

"Oh." Robin said, turning red.

"I don't understand." Starfire admitted shamefully. The team-leader whispered something in her ear and she turned as red as a tomato herself. "Oh." She said.

"Oh man. You ain't gonna believe this!" Cyborg started to laugh.

"What now?" Raven asked, mildly bored.

Cyborg looked up from the screen, trying to hold back bursting out in tears of joy. He looked her dead in the eyes. "Funny you should be the one to ask." He managed eventually. "You wouldn't believe how many people couple you and B together."

"Serious? Come on, let me see." Robin asked and pressed himself to his bigger friend as hard as he could, trying to get a clear view of the screen. "Oh wow, it's true!" He said, now laughing as well. "Cyborg open that story!"

"Which one? 'The art of trying?'"

"No you dunce, that one looks stupid. Try 'Dark Animal Passion!'"

Though it was funny to the two tired teens, the tension was tremendous to the other three. Raven displayed no emotion but a visible display of annoyance and disapproval. Beast Boy was much easier to read. A mixture of confusion, anger and shame fought a war across his face. Starfire observed them both carefully, afraid of what would follow.

"So, Raven..." Cyborg started, reading the fan-fiction. "Are you really so '_wild for his wild nature_'?'" Laughter ensued as he scrolled down. "Do you want him to '_release his animalistic urges_'?" More laughter from the duo came fast after that.

"Obviously, today was a bad day to leave my room." Raven answered. She stood up and picked up her tea. She calmly turned around and left her teammates behind as she moved through the sliding doors, back to her room.

"Perhaps you want B with you!" Cyborg hollered after her. "So he can '_show you the beast within_'!" When his and Robin's laughter wore out and they wiped the tears from their eyes he added "Man, this stuff is priceless."

"Yeah, hilarious." BB added sarcastically. It went by unnoticed. He continued to scarf down his breakfast.

"I do hope she didn't take our joke too seriously..." Robin said, reconsidering their actions.

"She'll be fine. That girl ought to laugh more anyway. It's good for her." Cyborg offered.

"Maybe I should go talk to her though..." Robin added.

"No!" The scream did not come from Beast Boy but from Starfire. One second later, with all eyes on her she continued with a softer voice. "I mean. No. You should go catch the sleep."

"I know, but what if..." Robin started in defence but that was as far as he got.

"I will do the talking with her tonight. It is wise to let her be by herself right now. Besides girls know this kind of stuff Robin."

"Fine. Can't argue with logic. I'm going to bed, Cyborg you should go recharge as well. " Robin said while getting up.

Only beast boy still eyed the orange alien suspiciously.

"Oh, all right, I suppose so." Cyborg said, lifting his laptop and standing up as well.

"Starfire, Beast Boy, wake us in five hours okay? Otherwise we'll be up all night again." Robin added as the door opened.

Both boys walked through the metal door. Last thing Starfire and Beast Boy heard was Cyborg's voice saying: 'Oh hell, now why am I being paired with Brother Blood in all these stories?'. Afterwards as they were alone at the table, Garfield Logan shot the former ruler of Tamaran a grateful look. He may have disliked or even hated Raven at that point, but last thing he needed was Robin, junior detective supreme, digging his nose in things and finding out about the extent of his fight with the hooded titan.

* * *

The forced atmosphere noticeable in T-tower was nothing compared to the dread Adonis faced when he finally woke up strapped to his swivel-chair with duct-tape. He was happy he was still wearing his jumpsuit. Otherwise the removal of the tape around his waist, wrists and legs could prove quite painful.

Adonis quickly realized he was being guarded by two of general Immortus' robots. It was useless to try and talk his way out of things. His body was sour all over from being left in the coldest part of the building. He couldn't even recognize his place anymore. New walls had been put up, from floor to ceiling and he couldn't see anything beyond his dark, bleak cell. He could hear all the machinery at work. Loud saw's sliced things, loud thuds pounced his eardrums and nail-guns fired away.  
When they noticed he'd awoken the two guards acted on aforementioned orders. One of them walked over to him, reached for the back of his chair and pulled along. They passed the door the other one had opened. Dragged backwards by one of the mechanical men he watched as the other fell in behind him. It's energy rifle looked extremely menacing. To his right Adonis could see a bunch of robots identical to the two transporting him. They were building a multilevel assembly line by the looks of it. Next to that were a lot of empty vats. He hated to admit it, but the place already felt more like an evil lair then he had ever achieved.

Seeing as not all the reinforced walls were put up yet he could see his suit in a glimpse across the facility. It lay still broken on a lit-up table. The anger at the brotherhood only grew when he realized they'd touched his suit without his permission.

By the looks of it, his holding place had been to the left of the entrance to the old factory. The robots brought him to the only place still recognizable from his old lair. His computer room. But then again, why fix what's not broken? His tech and computers were top-notch, the brain must have known this.

As he came to a halt, the robot pulling him turned his chair around and so Adonis came fact to face with the brotherhood once more. From left to right they stood behind a table supporting a giant map of the city; General Immortus, Monsieur Mallah, The Brain, Madame Rouge and … Professor Chang?

"Good. Our. Host. Is. Here. I. Trust. You. Slept. Well." The brain opened the conversation.

"What do you want with me, you overgrown tumour?" Adonis bit back.

"You would be wise not to insult my master as long as I'm around." Monsieur Mallah spoke calmly.

Adonis wagered his chances against an army of robots, a giant talking gorilla a woman made of rubber, an old geezer with a sword, a mad scientist and a sociopath in a jar while his own hands were literally tied. He decided on a different approach.

"To what do I ow the honour of your visit, old friends." The words in his mouth tasted like garbage.

"Nov zat iz better." Madame Rouge smiled at him almost pleasantly. Almost.

"The Brotherhood needs you to help us defeat the Teen Titans, young one." General Immortus spoke in a cracking voice.

"I think I'd be more useful with my hands free." Adonis offered, his anger still lying underneath.

"Not. Exactly." The brain replied.

"And why is he here?" Adonis asked, nodding to Professor Chang. "Just like me he wasn't a founding member of your little brotherhood, so why does he get to walk around?"

"He. Is. More. Useful. With. His. Hands. Free."

"Ve do appreciate ze baze of operationz."

"Yes. It will be most useful in our endeavors." Monsieur Mallah agreed.

"But. What. We. Really. Need. You. May. Not Wish. To. Give. Us. Of. Your. Own. Free. Will."

"Which is exactly why we have our old ally Professor Chang here." Said General Immortus.

"Who are you calling old, old geezer?" Professor Chang said jokingly in an Asian accent.

"You bastards. I told you before I joined your stupid brotherhood, only I deserve to know exactly how my suit works. It's my tech, not yours."

"While. Your. Technology. Is. Quite. Impressive. It. Is. Not. What. I. Need. From. You."

Adonis was dumbfounded. If not his suit, what else did he have tot offer? He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice Professor Chang walking up to him until he felt the sting in his lower right arm. The needle drew some of his blood.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Chang?" He yelled enraged.

"Just taking a sample." The bad doctor enlightened as he put the needle in a small, long metal case. He proceeded to put on a dark glove with glowing yellow energy energy-ports.

"You guys are fools, you know that? You escape from prison and then come to Jump City? The Titans are going to find you here!"

"We have been free for two months now." Monsieur Mallah shared.

Adonis didn't remember hearing about their prison-break. "But how?" He asked.

"I. Am. The. Greatest. Genius. In. The. World. And. Do. Not. Have. A. Lot. To. Do. But. Think. You. Believe. Any. Prison. Can. Hold. Us?"

"And with some tweaks robots can be such convincing doppelgangers." General Immortus added with a sinister smile.

The energy-ports on Chang's glove started to glow. The tied-up villain grew increasingly worried.

"What do you want from me?" He asked.

"I. Want. You. To. Think. Back. And. Think. Back. Hard. What. Do. You. Remember. From. The. Time. You. And. The. Little. Green. One. Were. Turned. Into. Those. Powerful. Beasts?" The brain spoke as Professor Chang placed his gloved hand on Adonis' forehead. A three dimensional graph appeared at the back of the glove. It spiked.

"I remember the power." Adonis said. His frightened eyes shifting between the Brotherhood of Evil and the mysterious glove on his his forehead. "I was all-powerful. It was like all the rage I ever had came back to me at once. But now, it was on my side."

"Exactly. How. Powerful. Were. You?"

Adonis looked the brain directly in the superior frontal. "If he hadn't been there..." He said, regretting clearly that the green Titan indeed had been. "I would have torn the city apart. I would have ended the Titans singlehandedly. I would have been feared across the globe and taken whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. I would have been unstoppable."

"Professor. Chang?"

The professor removed his hand from Adonis head and answered the vague question. "If his memory is correct, it indeed made him so powerful. The subconscious memories I scanned confirmed it. It might take me all night..."

"Then. Get. Cracking. Professor."

"What's he going to do?" Adonis asked, a mad glint shone in his eyes. "Are you going to make me like that again. If you can, untie me, I want it!"

"We. Will. Comply. Your. Transformation. Request." The brain said. "However. Not. Before. We. Make. The. Collars. And. The. Serum."

Adonis heard the tape. A second later Professor Chang had already strapped it over his mouth. "I will take the memories from you to create the ultimate, electrical-collar. It will make any werebeast obey us without question." He said.

Madame Rouge walked over to the tied-up villain and cupped his left cheek. "Zo, do not vorry liddle one." She teased. "You von't be ze only monzter around. You von't be lonely."

"I. Am. Sorry. To. Say. That. The. Process. Of. Perfecting. The. Collar. Will. Be. Quite. Painful. To. You." Spoke the brain, not the least bit sorry.

"But I did tell you, his genes won't provide us with the necessary information to make the chemicals. Nor the necessary power for manufacturing it." Professor Chang said.

"Haste. Has. Regrettably. Been. Our. Downfall. Before. We. Will. Not. Make. The. Same. Mistake. Twice. Just. Do. As. You. Are. Told. Professor. We. Will. Take. Care. Of. The. Rest."

"Yes, you'll get the needed DNA and power." General Immortus agreed. "It's just a matter of planning and setting the right bait."

"But first ve need to finizh preparing our ztrategy."

"Very Well." Chang conceded.

"Monsieur. Mallah. Help. Our. Friends. Get. To. Work."

"Yes master." The ape obliged.

He moved over to Adonis, grabbed the chair by the back and led him out of the hall. Professor Chang followed as they walked over to his laboratory. Adonis tried to scream his lungs out but it was no good, the tape blocked them.

* * *

There had been no mutual evening meal in T-tower that night. With Cyborg and Robin still pretty tired and Raven not leaving her room it had been rather quiet. Well... quiet wasn't the word exactly. Beast Boy played video-games all day through, seemingly enjoying himself. The volume was turned way up high.

Starfire was the only one at the table for dinner. Though her green friend sat a few feet away, clutching his controller and blasting away virtual aliens. He'd offered her to come join him but she'd politely declined. With all that was going on between him and her friend Raven, it didn't seem all that fun. Not to mention she would have to talk to Raven later on. So it was safe to say she had a lot on her mind. She'd just finished her meal of something blue and purple covered in orange that would be too difficult to spell out or pronounce. So when she was finishing up the last of her drink, which happened to be a bottle of chilly-sauce seeing as she had taken quite a liking to it, she heard her transforming teammate break the high-score.

"Yeah! Take that!" Beast Boy screamed as he jumped in the air, arms raised high. "B-E-A-S-T-B-O-Y. Why? 'Cuz he's beast boy! Yeah, I'm Beast Boy!" His victory dance was at the same time endearing, goofy and just plain silly.

But as his arms flailed around, Starfire could only see something forced. The enthusiasm in his voice dropped too quickly too. With a final 'woohoo' he sank himself back in his chair and, with a vague expression and slow movement, picked up the pile of video-games to his right. Slowly, pretending to examine each one extensively he shifted through them.

Starfire Felt compelled to say something. "Beast Boy?" She asked kindly.

"Yes?"

In one swift moment his shields were up again. The broad smile shone brightly on his face as he turned in the sofa to face her. In that moment all of Starfire's hopes of a heartfelt conversation with the boy sank deep down. With this facade plastered on his face it would be no use. Not knowing what to say, she spent a few moments picking something. "Make sure you eat something okay?" It sounded lame so she decided to add something. "We all do the harbouring of warm feeling towards you, you know?" She wished she hadn't said it. It was even more lame.

"Uh... Yeah, sure!" Beast Boy smiled happily. "Don't worry about me Star, I'm tip-top fine. I know I was a bit in a rut last night, but it's all good, now. Look, I just beat Cyborg's highscore in Dragon-robot-mega-wars 7 and now I'm going for his record in 'Amberlambs racecar'. I'm doing great."

Starfire stood up, grabbed her plate and mustard-dispenser and walked over to the counter. The smile on her face was equally fake as she looked at her teammate.

"I am certain you are." She lied.

Still bearing the fake emotions and feeling very uncomfortable for the entire situation they were in, she backed off towards the door. Her face was starting to cramp as she walked backwards so they could still see each-others lying expressions. When the door closed in front of her, both sighed inaudibly and let the relief of depression take over.

The Tamaranian left her friend in search for another. The hallways she took lead her to the forbidden chamber. After all, no one was welcome in Raven's room but the mysterious girl herself. Nonetheless she knocked on the door on arrival. She was not disappointed. When the door slid open, the girls came face-to-face.

"Friend Raven, I need to speak with you." The alien girl began.

"Look, is this about this morning? I just didn't feel like listening to their sleep-deprived jokes, okay? I don't blame them or hold any grudges."

Starfire noticed now that something had been bothering her about Raven lately. She was even more neutral in her tone of voice than ever. She never thought it possible. Last night when they fought Adonis and she commented on the news of Beast Boys condition her voice hadn't just been distant, it was apathic. It seemed impossible to the alien teenager, but her friend displayed less emotion than usual. Just as Beast Boy seemed to try and be more exuberant and happy than usual. She wondered...

"I fear you do hold a grudge." The orange girl said, deciding it would be best to try an open approach. "Just not against Cyborg or Robin."

Raven was not stupid, she realized her friend was not talking about herself. "Beast Boy?" She ventured.

"Yes. I overheard your... 'conversation' last night." As she paused to try and find the word to replace 'fight' her head bobbed down and her eyes shifted to the right. When she looked back up, Raven's expression still hadn't changed.

"And?"

"And... it would appear there were some unresolved interpersonnal communications between the two of you.

"I don't hold anything against Garfield." Said Raven. What was worst off all was how convinced she seemed of this herself.

"I don't know what he did, friend Raven." Starfire continued, disregarding her friend's statement. "But I do know he feels the sorrow."

A distant and loud 'WOOHOO' resonated from the living room. Beast Boy had apparently broken yet another record on another game.

"Yes." Said the Azarathian sarcastically. "He seems very down to me."

"I am not the one of the group who can best understand human emotions or the earthly ways of dealing with having the arguments with friends. Yet I can still sense he is actually lying about the feelings he has. He did not mean what he said last night, he cares for you much and he did try to apologize."

"I don't need his apology. I mean it."

"Trust me, I know how annoying he can be. It can be hard to forgive him, I have struggled with this in the past. But he is your friend and you are his. I see not why you need act so 'birgly' towards him."

"I'm not..." The young half-demon started. "I'm not being a 'birgl'." It seemed she could nearly taste the word in her mouth. And it tasted off.

"Actually it's being a 'birglé'. But that is not of the matter. You must tell me now, why you are so the cold towards him."

"Starfire, with all due respect, it's none of your business. And I assure you, I'm not mad at Beast Boy."

"Actually you have been the cold to all of us lately. But especially against Beast Boy." Starfire continued, seemingly undisturbed.

Raven sighed. "Just let it go."

"I can not do that. I care for you both too much to do that."

Realizing the orange girl wasn't going to go away without an answer, the Azarathian sighed. "Starfire... The thing is, I just don't."

"You don't what?" The Tamaranian asked, confused.

"Care." Raven explained. "Not about him. Not anymore. I stopped myself."

"I still do not understand."

"Promise me you'll keep this between us. I'm asking you as a friend."

Starfire rather hadn't made that promise but it didn't seem like she had much choice. "Agreed." She said reluctantly.

"You say you care for Beast Boy. I don't. Not anymore."

"We all say something like that at times..."

"No, really, I literally shut down any feelings of friendship, camaraderie, hate and everything between. Any emotions linked to Beast Boy are now impossible for me to have. I don't need anything from him anymore. I do not care if he apologizes or not. I do not care if he hates me or not. I do not care if he is sorry or not. I feel nothing for Garfield Logan. No hate, no nothing."

Starfire said the one thing any normal, logical sentient being could say after receiving this piece of information. "Wait... What?"

"I shut down all emotions linked to Beast Boy." The girl with the grey skin tone repeated herself.

"I do not understand. Is this some form of earthly, or perhaps Azarathian, humor?"

Raven shook her head, suggesting a negative reply. "I don't do humor." She said.

That much was true, at least. "But... Why?" The alien lady wondered out loud. The confusion in her eyes made it clear to anyone that she couldn't find the answer herself. "And for that matter, how?"

"Well, I've always been good at not letting myself feel things. It's how I keep myself from destroying all of reality." Raven's voice was not unkind. This distressed Starfire even more for some reason. "I just decided to use all these abilities to sort of shut him out."

"But Beast Boy was... no, he is your friend. I do not understand why you take such drastic action."

"You know how emotions, mostly anger, fuel my powers? You remember what it felt like, right?"

"The time the evil puppet made us change bodies? Yes it is impossible to forget."

"Well, Beast Boy always has had a talent for getting on my nerves and pushing my buttons. Last night he was so frustrating that the rage was all-consuming. I had to make a choice. It seemed safer to negate all emotions concerning him. That way he could never push me over the edge. I'm afraid that if I hadn't made that choice Jump City might have ended up in endless, dark turmoil."

Starfire noticed the reason in her voice and all the logic dripping from it. It was terrifying to hear how objectively her friend now looked at their (previously mutual) comrade. For a while she didn't know what to say. At long last she managed something. "Are you sure this is wise, friend Raven?"

"I don't see why it isn't. I told you: I don't hate Beast Boy either. This way we can still be teammates. The city's intact and the team sticks together. It's the best possible outcome, without any risks." Raven truly seemed to believe what she spoke of. "I was just too tired to keep fighting it, knowing it would someday burst. This is much safer for everyone."

"Are you sure about that?" Starfire implored. Her tone of voice and persistent stare making it clear that she had a reason for her doubts.

"What do you mean?" Rae replied to the question with another question.

"In our last fight against Adonis you seemed, how to put this delicately, less strong than usual." The orange Titan explained.

"I misjudged his upgrades and that's how he got the better of me. It's got nothing to do with Beast Boy." The half-demon replied, sure of herself.

"I think not. Raven, your powers come from emotion. Shutting down one of your best friends has effected your whole world."

"I remember you not fairing much better. How do you explain your failure?" Raven asked, mildly irritated.

"I... I do not know. Bad teamwork perhaps? With you and Beast Boy preoccupied..."

To Starfire's credit, her voice was careful and her body-language avoided any act of hostility. And yet, nobody likes to be blamed for someone else's failure. Raven's retort came swift.

"Don't blame all your shortcomings on your friends Starfire, it doesn't suit you. We, as a group, had a bad day. This new situation between Garfield and me is just a trivial coincidence. Now if you don't mind, I was reading a book I'd like to get back to." Not waiting for a reply, the witch-girl turned and the door fell in behind her.

That remark would normally have been enough to shut down the alien with the gentle heart. Not today however. As the door slid to close she stuck her foot in the opening and pried it open once more.

"I do mind." She said, making it clear she had a job to do and she was seeing it through.

"Excuse me?" Raven uttered. She had to turn back to face her friend.

"Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps I can not blame the two of you for the defeat we suffered last night. It is indeed not right. But this still does not explain why you did the shutting down of all your feelings towards Beast Boy."

"I told you. I realized he was too good in getting me angry. The fun we had was not worth the risk of so much potential destruction."

"You sound like a robot friend Raven. Can you not hear that? And what exactly did he do to get you the upset?"

At the second question Raven grew silent. Though she'd was convinced she'd shut down any emotions linked to the green changeling, a smidgen of shame clearly remained. It became apparent to the orange girl.

"That does not matter."

"I'm not taking my leave before you supply me with a satisfactory answer, friend Raven."

Eventually Rae had to mumble something.

"Hecldmegly." Raven spoke softly through closed teeth.

"What did you say?"

The gray-skinned girl sighed and repeated herself more clearly. "I said: he called me ugly. The final point was that he called me ugly. I admitt it, I can be vain too, okay?"

"Oh." This was not something Starfire had expected. "I'm sure Beast Boy didn't mean it." She offered. "He must have taken it back. Hasn't he?"

"Irrelevant. I had finally had enough."

The orange girl seemingly focused less on her friend and more on her own inner thoughts. She spoke out loud but not truly to the Azarathian. Her voice was focused and her hands gestured her thought-pattern. "But have you not suffered worse insults by the worse people. But those are the people whose opinions matter less to you, then? They are the people you do not do the caring for. But even we two have had the fights. Awful fights. So if you have managed to forgive me for the saying of all those bad words and the calling of the names, how much do you care if ... Beast Boy … thinks … you are … pretty?" Finished with her thoughts, the Tamaranian looked up to find her friend now fully irritated. The stare she received would have been enough to set fire to a mere human. Luckily, she wasn't from around. So instead she started another sentence. "Raven... Are you in..."

"No. I don't think I was. But it doesn't matter in any case. I don't feel anything now. Whatever my feelings used to be to Beast boy, and I'm not saying they were that, they are moot at this point."

"But Raven, it is not beneficiant for your health to bottle up such things. Robin and I..."

"I have no emotions left for Logan. Understand this, please Starfire. No friendship, no hate. Nothing in between. I do not like him. I do not dislike him. There is nothing to bottle up because there is nothing."

"I think he deserves to know that..." Starfire once again started a sentence she wouldn't finish.

"I think you need to remember you promised me you'd keep this between us. And I don't want the rest of our team worrying too. In any case, you promised. A friend keeps her promises Starfire. Or aren't you my friend after all?"

"No, Raven, I am your true friend!" Her voice was filled with dread of the aspect of losing her comrade.

"Then you know what to do." Raven said and it was clear she wasn't going to take this conversation for much longer. Using her right hand she gestured locking up her lips and throwing away the imaginary key. "Keep this between us. Look at the bright side, you always wanted us to do girly stuff together. I don't know anything more girly than talking about boys and emotions." And with that final remark the door closed in Starfire's face.


	4. But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane

**Disclaimer:** well, duh!

**A/N:**

SKIP THIS PART AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ALL-CAPS TEXT IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN THE RAMBLINGS OF THE AUTHOR.

Hey there, glad you stick around so long. Chapter four already. This is moving allong quicker than I'd forseen. Good thing I've just about finished chapter eleven.

A great thank you to 'Blackcat160' and 'Same as I am' for replying to chapter 3. And also thanks to all my story's followers and those that favorited it.

And a double thanks to Dustin Perry, my beta. Double because, shame on me, I forgot to mention him last update. For shame, for shame.

So, don't forget to let me know what you think of the story so far. I'll admitt it's mostly written out so I probably won't put in new suggestions story-wise. But if there's something about my writing-style you findgood or bad, let me know. I do reread and rephrase before posting the chapters here. Perhaps I can get some of those pesky things out in advance. Examples are: continued misphrasing of a sentence or misuse of a word (English isn't my native language), the way of talking of any of the characters being OOC, repeating myself, taking to long to get to the point, being too direct, the way I describe the atmosphere or objects or the lack of description, failing at continuity, ...  
Don't be afraid to tell me, I just want to give you guys the best version this story can be, and I know I'm still learning how to write well so I won't take it personal. Promise.

Oh, and a special request. Now that we're in a third of the story, I wanted to ask you all: has something been your favorite moment in the story so far? Be it a one-liner or a conversation or perhaps the battle. There's plenty of all those things yet to come, and if I know what you like I might be able to implement it's tone and structure into further chapters.

STORY STARTS HERE.

**Chapter 4: But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane**

**Alternate title: **_The million dollar brain._

As General Immortus' metal men kept working hard to get the new base up to full capacity, a lot of noise arose in the chambers. Drills drilled. Nailguns nailed. Hammers hammered. All in all: the effect was quite deafening. But the Brain, stationary in the giant computer room, cared not. He didn't mind the roaring machines nor the clanking metal. Even the screams of Adonis, which had stopped only a mere thirty minutes prior, hadn't affected his mood in any negative way. If anything, he enjoyed this orchestra. It was the sound of a plan coming together. It was truly the sound of impending victory. And it was about time for that, in his opinion.

The brain stood there accompanied by Monsieur Mallah and General Immortus. Together they studied a map of Jump City, lying on a white, brightly-shining table. Especially the good general showed intense focus. Perhaps the sounds did distract him a bit but he tried his best not to let it show. Monsieur Mallah was just there as muscle. He had the habit of not straying too far from his master. Strategy was more of his bald companion's share, so the ape hardly had to focus. Though he remained vigilant for any possible threat. And the brain, well supposedly he did focus, but it's rather hard to read someone without a face.

The absence of Madame Rouge was not much of a surprise. The Brain had always known she was more of a wild card than the rest of his brotherhood . She hated this noise and wouldn't have been here even if he'd commanded her. So he didn't. Because he did need her and couldn't be shown working with those who openly disobeyed him. It was therefore wise to pick his battles.

After a long time of staring at the map, General Immortus finally moved. Carefully he grabbed a red marker lying next to his right hand. As if in trance he popped off the top and brought it down. "What if..." He said and encircled five places as he hung above the map. They were a boulevard, a powerplant, the water-purifying station, a police station and a museum. "Yes." He mumbled to himself. "Yes this will do nicely."

"Let. Me. See." The brain demanded.

General Immortus threw himself upright and backed away. A red pentagon was visible on the map. The General seemed pleased with himself.

"You. Are. Certain. This. Will. Work?"

"Have I ever given you reason to doubt my tactical decisions?"

"I. Can. Name. A. Few. Occasions. Yes." The brain retorted in his animated voice.

"And I a few more." The giant ape chimed in.

Trying not to show that his pride was wounded, the tactician replied sternly. "It'll work you ingrates, I promise you that." For a second his eyes glanced back at the map, a dreamy sense of accomplishment covered his eyes. "It will work perfectly." He said before returning his focus and anger. "At least, if you Monsieur Mallah and Madame Rouge do as you're told. If you can manage that well get what we need. Understand? So how about _you_ try not to fail _me_ this time? We don't want a repeat of Tennessee, now do we?"

The only thing the french gorilla did to reply was to show his sharp teeth in a diabolical smile and let out a dismissive and patronizing grunt.

"Fine. Old. Friend. I. Only. Asked. To. Be. Certain. We. Have. A. Lot. Riding. On. This. One. Can. Not. Be. Too. Careful." When the general made gesture that he was alright and had moved past it, the mastermind continued. "Has. Professor. Chang. Finished. Updating. Your. Mechanized. Troops?"

"Yes." The strategist replied, clearly not pleased with this. "It's an outrageously ugly design though. Bah, to see my glorious troops stooped to such mockery."

"Good." Spoke Monsieur Mallah in a deep tone of voice. "Now that they look different the Titans might not know it is us."

"Not. Until. It. Is. Too. Late. That. Is." The brain agreed.

"That is the plan." Immortus said as he walked over to a nearby wall and, using some tacks that were on the table, pinned the map on it.

"Monsieur. Mallah. Do. Me. A. Favor. And. Fetch. The. Good. Professor."

"Yes, master." The servant obeyed.

"And. You. General. Go. Find. Madame. Rouge. And. Explain. The. Plan. To. Her. Make. Sure. She. Is. Ready. To. Strike. Tonight. We. Can. Not. Afford. Mistakes. At. This. Point."

The military man turned around to face his superior. "Right Away." He saluted.

The ape was the first to walk out the door, the old man the second.

For a few minutes the brain was alone with his thoughts. He couldn't even remember having fingers but now he could swear he could feel them itch with anticipation. An army of the strongest creatures at his command. And the Teen Titans out of the way, including that pesky little green one. The doom-patrol would be next. His plan was perfect. Poetically beautiful seeing as he would use the Titans to destroy themselves and all they held dear. Yes, soon he'd be unstoppable and the world would be at his feet. Metaphorically speaking, for he no longer had such limbs. They would all bow or be destroyed. Fair's fair, he'd give them the option. And no superheroes would be able to touch him, not with such a vast force at his disposal. Anyone who tried anything would just become another addition to the 'team'.

But, though he wouldn't admit it, he was anxious and the upcoming struggle did worry him to some degree. Yes, his plan was indeed perfect. He really, truly was convinced of this. But it had also been perfect the last time. And the time before that. And the time before that. And... so on.  
Surely all his defeats had been flukes. How else could such a vast intellect as himself be defeated? But still, he couldn't let it happen again. He needed to be ready for anything. And he knew how.

On the dot the metallic door opened. Professor Chang made his way through it, holding a simple clip-board and staring at it intensly. Monsieur Mallah followed closely, keeping a close eye on the scientist. Ally or not, monsieur Mallah never let his guard down.

"Yes Brain, what's this about?" Chang asked, still not taking his eyes off of the charts in his hands.

"Ah. Professor. Good. To. See. You. Again. How. Are. The. Preparations. Going?" The evil mastermind enquired.

Absentmindedly the professor checked his board and replied. "As planned. Exactly as planned. The General's fighters turned out to be reliable workers as well."

"Good. To. Hear. That. But. Enlighten. Me. On. The. Current. Status. Please."

Chang clearly couldn't believe this turn of events. His tone of voice betrayed his obvious annoyance deriving from this check-up. "I've just finished a prototype of the collars. I left it in the shed. As soon as the machinery is ready, they can be mass-produced. Though I realise you prefer to build the chemicals beforehand. Recallibrations of the machine will not take up much time, once it's operational. I just lay the last hand on the power-room but we still don't have a power-source, naturally." On this note, he realized this was the perfect occasion to ask a question that had been bothering him ever since he'd been hired. "By the way, your design was very strange on that part. What do you plan to use as a power-source?"

"That. Is. Not. Your. Concern. Professor. Continue. I. Did. Not. Free. You. From. Prison. To. Ask. Questions. You. Are. Only. Here. To. Do. The. Work. We. Tell. You. To. Do."

Chang had a malevolent grin on his face. "Oh, come on. Enlighten me."

"Monsieur. Mallah."

"What? How can you mean to use that gia-Aaaah!"

Before the professor could finish his question he was lifted by the great gorilla. The ape had grabbed him by the collar with only one arm an suspended him in air. The clip-board fell to the ground.

"Don't make the master repeat himself." There was definitely something threatening and menacing underlining in the diplomatic voice of the 800lb gorilla. "Now, you were saying?"

While kicking air and struggling in futility the scientist's voice was rapid and frantic. "Ah! The production-machine is finished and the bots are laying the last hand on the containers. The assembly line was completed ages ago! Come on put me down! Please?"

"Monsieur. Mallah. That. Is. Enough. Oblige. Him."

The big brute dropped the big brain. Though he came down hard, the scientist scrambled himself up in no time, picking up the chart, and rubbed his neck and his tailbone. His clothes had tightened around the throat and chafed it. He tried to rub the sourness away but was unsuccessful. Chang coughed before he continued.

"Of course we still don't have a DNA sample to find out exactly which chemicals we need to use."

"It. Will. Be. Provided."

For a split second, the professor contemplated on asking how that could be. After all, it was completely erased from Adonis' DNA. The pain in his throat made him think twice. Instead he instinctively looked back. The gorilla just regarded him with a diabolical smile of razor-sharp teeth.

Apparently the Brain had noticed though. "It. Is. Better. For. Everyone. That. You. Only. Know. What. You. Need. To. Know. Professor. Chang. In. A. Few. Hours. Your. Work. Here. Is. Done. And. We. Can. Not. Have. You. Running. Around. Telling. The. Plan. To. Just. Anyone. We. Would. Not. Want. To. Have. To. Kill. You. Now. Would. We?"

"Yes. Yes. Of course." Chang continued. "I would never betray the brotherhood, you know this Sir. Not just loyalty and honor would keep me from such an act but also the fact that if you prove succesfull and get rid of the Titans like you promised, it'll open up a much bigger market for me. I'm only mentioning this because I couldn't find it in the boy's memories. He did give me all the data I needed to successfully program the collars, though. I retrieved it with my glove and stored it there. It is being encrypted now. As soon as we have the power-source we'll be able to make those as well."

"That. Glove. Of. Yours. Does. Seem. Rather. Useful. How. About. You. Leaving. It. Here. Untill. The. Mission. Is. Complete?"

"Whatever you want, Sir." Professor Chang replied. He wasn't worried about the glove he could use to delve into the subconsciousness of it's 'patients'. He had the blueprints for this wonderfull invention back at home.

"Good. So. Everything. Will. Be. Ready. For. Tonight?"

"I should think so."

"Tell. Me. Something. Professor. Do. You. Think. My. Plan. Is. Perfect?"

For a brief second, Chang was speechless. He had no clue how to respond to this question. "I suppose so, yes." He said eventually, and added: "It's a nefarious scheme fit for a criminal mastermind such as yourself." Flattery was the last thing he'd ever ventured the Brain would request but it was all he could figure the question was after.

"You. Flatter. Me."

"Credit where credit is due, sir." Professor Chang's new-found friendliness may have had something to do with Monsieur Mallah standing behind him. However he did his best not to let that be noticed.

"Indeed. But. What. Did. You. Think. Of. My. Last. Plan. At. The. Time?"

"Uhm."

"You. Must. Have. Thought. It. Was. Perfect. As. Well."

"Uh..." The scientist felt the pressure of the French Ape's stare. "Yes?" He ventured.

"Yet. It. Did. Not. Succeed. Nor. Did. Any. Of. My. Other. Plans. Against. These. Superheroes. Always. We. Are. Thwarted. At. The. Last. Possible. Second. I. Have. Noticed. A. Pattern. Here. And. Now. I. Finally. Know. How. To. Break. It. But. I. Will. Need. Your. Assistance."

"Additional work does require additional pay." Chang said, having regained some of his former self.

"Certainly. How. About. We. Pay. Your. Hospital. Bill?"

"Huh?" Was all the scientist could manage before monsieur Mallah put his right hand on Chang's left shoulder. Once again the smart villain turned back to look. This time the Ape was grinning both darkly amiable and seriously malevolent. "Or, how about we call it a favour from a friend to friend?" Chang tried desperately.

"How. Generous. Of. You." The brain answered. And to cause further insult he added 'friend' after a short pause. "Now. Let. Me. Tell. You. Exactly. What. Was. Wrong. With. My. Previous. Plans. It. Was. Me."

"Master. That is not true!" Monsieur Mallah interjected, ever loyal.

"Now. Now. Monsieur. Mallah. I. Am. Not. Afraid. To. Admit. It. It. Is. Only. The. Cold. Hard. Truth. You. See. Professor. I. Am. The. Greatest. Mind. This. World. Has. Ever. Seen. There. Is. No. Doubt. But. I. Am. Thwarted. Because. My. Vast. Intellect. Has. To. Be. Delegated. To. Inferior. Workers. Such. As. Yourself. If. I. Want. To. Use. My. Full. Potential. I. Will. Require. A. New. Body. Luckily. We. Have. One. Lying. Around."

Not understanding what his employer was trying to make clear, professor Chang ventured an idea. "You want me to put you in Adonis' body? He's not exactly the pinnacle of human strength, speed and agility."

"Close. But. No. Cigar. No. I. Wonder. Part. Of. Adonis. His. Suit. Is. Controlled. By. His. Own. Body. But. Part. Of. It. Must. Be. Controlled. By. His. Brainwaves. We. Have. Seen. The. Technology. I. Know. The. Technology. I. Am. Asking. You. If. It. Is. Possible. To. Reconfigure. The. Suit. To. Make. It. Work. On. Brainpower. Completely."

"It would have to be an exceptional brain." Chang smiled sinisterly.

"It. Will. Be. Do. You. Mind. A. Little. Side. Project?"

"Rebuilding the suit to fit your needs?" The Professor pondered as he turned from Monsieur Mallah to the brain. "Gentlemen. We can rebuild it. We have the technology."

* * *

On top of the T-tower sat a solitary figure. Well, floated is more accurate than 'sat'. It was a teenage girl with grey tone of skin, violet hair and a blue cloak. Anyone in Jump City who would have seen her floating on top of that building that night would have found it odd. Not so much the floating part seeing as the inhabitants of Jump City were quite accustomed to the quirks of their vigilante protectors by now. Some even migrated there to witness the battle between the forces of good and evil first hand. Personal danger aside, that's good entertainment. No, what would have accured as strange was that she was willingly outside on such a cold december night. Anyone that would have seen her would have judged her crazy with not a second glance.

But that was the point entirely. No one did. No one could see her on top of the tower. There was not a soul to bother her. And she did not wish to be bothered. The cold wasn't all that bad, she judged, as it kept her mind focused and would test her willpower. There was no-one there, which made this place perfect for meditation. The noisse of Beast Boy's loud videogames, Robin working out and Cyborg's work inside the garage made pretty much any place inside the tower undesirable. And Starfire's interruption of her previous attempt that night had made her weary of trying again in her own room.

As she assumed the lotus-position with her arms resting on her legs, she did her best to focus. This was, she had found, the best stance for relaxation. And it would probably take a while for her to reach her Nirvana. It usually did. Being the daughter of a dark demon tended to make such elongated sessions necessary.

When she started her breathing was incoherent, her body stiff and her face slightly troubled. She allowed the serene silence to overtake her and closed her eyes. Raven felt the winds blowing through her hair. She heard small waves crashing softly into the edges of the small island. The glow of the lights of Jump City were something she became only dully aware of as they shone on the lids of her eyes.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She hummed her mantra.

Her breathing became calculated and regular.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She repeated.

She felt her body relax tremendously.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She said for a third time.

All wories cleared from her face.

And from her mind.

She had reached her Nirvana, and at record time too, she realized. For a few minutes she allowed herself to enjoy this state of mind and let it wash over her body. In this clearheaded mindset she allowed herself to relax and to reflect.

Raven was glad she came up here. It had obviously been the right choice, seeing as how quick she reached her goal. She didn't seem to feel the cold at all. Certainly she didn't mind it one bit. And with all that happened in the past few hours she needed the most secluded space. She needed some time to herself to put their shameful defeat at the hands of Adonis behind her. She needed some time away from the juvenile behavior of Cyborg and Robin. And the last thing she needed was for Starfire to tell her how to deal with her own emotions.

Sure, Raven understood that the concept of shutting down feelings would seem strange to an outsider. But nobody knew her better than she did herself. Starfire's concern thus seemed invalid. Beyond the intrusions of the green and the orange Titan, she found she didn't even think about it. Without them there to remind her, or in this deepest of reflections, those thoughts were gone. It was the ultimate sign that her choice had worked. And not only that, but she was now certain it was the right decision.

After all, could there be any doubt? She had never felt more relaxed and focussed. Her body was more at easy than she could ever remember. Not only was all tension gone but she felt more secure of herself. Where it seemed that she sometimes used to feel lost and confused, she now only felt in control and clearminded. The sheer fact of her reaching her personal Nirvana in mere minutes was surely a testimony to that.

She wondered why she hadn't shut out Beast Boy any sooner. If it hadn't come to a boiling point, she may not have. And what a shame that would have been. Now she had complete and utter control, it was amazing. And all it took was giving up on getting annoyed at the hands of one of her teammates. It wasn't just the last fight they had that held her back, she realized. She was so at ease now that she didn't even care about any of the other smaller things he did. His eccentricities were of no bother to her. No more did his endless supply of lame jokes run through her head as she tried to meditate. No longer did she even register it if he made fun of her. Her own head was clear of ways to make fun of him as well. No more did his loud and frequent videogaming disturb her peace. And his loud and random outbursts were of no concern to her anymore. And finally, for once in all the time she had known him, Beast Boy had not obnoxiously tried to force her to take on his cheery attitude nor tried to make her smile for a whole day's time.

Raven opened her eyes. Something was wrong.

She allowed her feet to make contact with the concrete ground below her. The floor was sturdy and she allowed it's balance to flow over into her. Carefully but deliberately she walked towards the edge of the roof. She looked down to the shores of T-island and saw the ice forming. It clung to the edges of their home. And yet, she did not feel the freezing, biting winds as such. Something was wrong.

Her eyes darted upwards, towards the cloudless and star-filled night. The shone brilliantly and even accompanied a great full moon. This would normally be an amazing night to grab her favorite gothic-poetry book and read it's most exquisite passages. But for some reason she didn't feel like it at all. Something was wrong.

At last her eyes fell to the city before her. It's lights betrayed the busy nightlife of Jump city. It was the city she'd sworn to protect and serve. The city whose inhabitants counted on the vigilance of her and the rest of her team. Jump City had more than its fair share of maniacs, crooks, psychopaths, super-villains and monsters. It also had a great body of innocents. Those mere bystanders and victims in a world poisoned beyond their capacity to deal with. She thought about those and found it hard to empathize with any of them. Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong, she felt it in the most secluded parts of her soul. But she couldn't figure out what. Nothing seemed logical to her. It didn't make any sense what so ever. Normally she'd figure this out in the deepest of her Nirvana. Yet now, she realized, this was part of the problem. She'd never reached it as quickly or as easily as she did now. Yet for some reason, it seemed hollow. It felt incomplete. Somehow, taking away the journey annihilated anything mention worthy about the destination.

And then, in flash, it hit her. She knew the solution to her problem.

Quickly and swiftly she fazed through the walls, roofs and floors of the T-building. When she arrived at her room a quick rummage through a trunk in the corner rewarded her with her prize. It was the mirror she always used to enter the deepest recesses of her mind as a visitor. If consciousness in Nirvana couldn't solve this puzzle, her sub consciousness might. Thinking herself smart, the Azarathian floated back up to the roof through the building. It didn't take her long to focuss and steel her nerves. With one last chanting of her mantra, she allowed herself to pass through her very own 'looking-glass self' and into the recesses of her own mind.

Upon her arrival she felt well at place. The multi-dimensional plains were nothing new to her. Right now there was no reason to feel ill at ease in her own mind. Actually, it was her greatest safe-haven. Yet, though it still felt like she just returned home, there was somewhat of an eerie silence around.

In a soft voice she spoke. In a way she spoke to herself. "Come forth other ones." She, trying to call her all the parts of her personality before her.

However, her emoticlones didn't show up . She spoke louder, beckoning them. "I summon thee other me. Come forth."

Yet again there was no reply. What the hell was going on? She never had had any problem in summoning shards of her personality in this world. This was her own mind. And it didn't make any sense, they were her. How could she possibly disobey herself?

"Get over here, now!" She shouted. But even the third time there was no reply.

After the first shock washed over her, she calmed herself down. A smidgen of anger presented itself to her in her inability to find the pieces of her soul. And with that, she figured out what to do.

"Okay." She said, talking to herself. "There's one of you I always know where to find."

It was a short fly across the barren, multi-dimensional void to the cage. It was always a short fly to the cage as it always loomed nearby, wherever she went. Inside she found an all to familiar face. It was her own, draped underneath a red cloak.

Raven landed by the cage of Rage and instantly wondered if this truly was a good idea. But she needed answers and there was no going back now.

"Look who it is." Rage answered from the back of the cell. "Me."

For once Rage wasn't angrily pounding the metal cage Raven had put her in. For once she was slumped down, as if taking a siesta, leaning with her back against the walls.

"I need answers." Raven spoke clearly and sternly. She knew better than to allow Rage to get under her skin. "And you have to give them to me."

"Well, perhaps, if you let me out I can…" Rage started.

Raven didn't let her finish. "No. No deals. You can't lie to me. You can't keep things from me. I'm in control here."

Rage smirked. "Well, if you say so… I mean, we've never been wrong, have we now?"

Raven didn't like this. Rage's posture, her tone of voice, her body-language… It all didn't fit. Rage would usually be non-responsive, choosing to curse and flail and insult. But this was way to methodical and patient.

"Just tell me where I can find the rest and we don't have to see each-other for a while and you can go back to brooding." Raven said. The sooner she was out of here the better it seemed.

"Anyone you need in particular?" Rage asked politely.

Raven decided to ride out this unexpected friendly behavior she experienced from her darker side. "Yeah." She said after thinking about it for a few seconds. "Yellow."

"Ah." Rage said, getting up slowly. "Now there's an interesting colour." There was a mad glint in the emoticlone's eye as she slowly made her way to the other end of her large cell, towards Raven. "Now, why would you want to talk to her?" Her hands raised up slightly in a questioning manner.

Raven realized she would lie if she said she didn't feel a bit intimidated. Yet she refused to back away. There were iron bars between them. Enchanted imaginary iron bars. And in here, that was as strong as they got. "She's knowledge." Raven answered. "She's my logic. If any part of me knows the answer to my question, it's probably her."

"Oh really?" Rage chuckled. Foot by foot she drew closer. "That's what you think?"

Raven quietly calculated the distance and realized she was out of reach if Rage were to pry her arms through the metal bars. She reassured herself she was quite safe. If only she could actually feel that way too. "Just tell me where she is."

"Fool." Rage said. To Raven's horror Rage's cloak changed from red to brown. "... like man ..." The brown-cloaked Raven yawned. "... you see…" Then her cloak turned to pink "That's the one Raven I can't help you with silly!" By now the pink hooded Raven was a few mere feet away from the bars. To add to the horror the pink Raven giggled like a schoolgirl, something the other Raven hoped she'd never have to witness again.

"How are you doing that?" Raven asked.

The caged Raven's cloak turned grey. "I'm sorry." She apologized as she quivered. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything."

Raven was more confused than ever. "It's okay." She said, trying to sooth her inner timid self. "It's just that you aren't supposed to be able to do that."

"Oh arn't I?!" The prisoners cloak was red once more, from beneath it shone four red eyes. A sight Raven had rarely ever seen and did not like to be reminded of.

"I don't understand this." Raven added in a bewildered manner.

The red Raven grasped the bars and seemingly tried to pry her face between them. "Of course you don't!" She hissed in a demonic voice. "Because knowledge isn't everything! What's your precious logic if you can't compute the damn variables!?"

"What do you…"

A loud series of bangs were audible. Instantly Raven knew they were not coming from within her own mind. There was something wrong in Jump City. She had to leave.

Raven pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes thinking. "We'll have to continue this sometime later." She managed, actually relieved for the unscheduled interference. This was all getting a tad too weird. "And believe me, I will be back to discuss this."

Raven opened her eyes and found herself staring back. Not just a part of her, but herself. A raven wearing a blue cloak was still holding the bars of the cell. Her look was sad.

"I don't know how you're tricking me like this." The Raven at the free end of the cell said. But I'll be back to figure it out.

"We can't trick each-other, though." The blue-hooded Raven spoke. "We can't lie to each-other. We can't lie to ourselves."

"Yeah well... I suppose we've been wrong though after all." The free bird said as she turned around ready to take flight. "I don't have time for this."

"Just answer me this." The caged Raven started before her counterpart couldn't leave. "Why can't I show you yellow?"

Yet Raven left herself without an answer. Never before had sherushed to the exit faster. The entire ordeal still had her shaken up. But as she looked at the city across the water, she realized it would have to wait for a few more hours. Five plumes of smoke rose from the city. Something was wrong.

* * *

Inside Teen-Titans-Tower the changeling sat rather bored on the sofa of the living-room. With a frown on his face he let his thoughts run wild. His video-game-character kept blindly running into the same wall as his hands were stuck around a controller, not moving. It was near midnight but the little Titan had no interest of going to sleep. For one thing he'd rather wake up. It'd be a lot easier if this all turned out to be just a bad dream.

For once, smiling all day had worn him out. Even though he was sure he'd read somewhere you use more muscles to frown. Stupid science, shows what it knows right?

He'd hoped his big-brother role model, Cyborg, would have come to join him for some video-games. It was the only thing Beast Boy had felt like doing all day. However, Cyborg had chosen not to lose any more of his day-schedule. The messed-up sleep-time, or recharge time or whatever, had been bad enough. Currently the half-machine was therefore upgrading his ride and pride; the T-car. Robin had been training, as he wasn't that much of a gamer himself. No way boy wonder could get a decent work-out in his state either, but it was better than nothing, Beast Boy supposed.

And Starfire, well, Garfield wasn't sure he wanted to talk to her anyway. Not because her warm, friendly face wouldn't be comforting, but because he was afraid of what she might say. He felt ashamed of her seeing him and Raven fight. Not to difficult to understand that he was afraid of facing the alien girl. How could he explain it anyway? He'd already done something so awful it apparently lost him a friend. He didn't want to lose another by bringing it up again.

Truly, he wanted to bury it. He wanted to be mad at Raven. A part of him was. But a bigger part just wanted her to be nice to him again. Or, at least more like before. She'd never been particularly nice to him, after all.  
He could take her quips. He could take her annoyance with him. He could not take this, however. He wanted everything to go back to normal. Or if not that, he wanted to be able to bury their friendship like Raven had said she'd done, but he couldn't.

The green lad didn't even notice he wasn't alone anymore until someone sat down next to him. It was his team-leader. Robin held two mugs. Steam arose from them, together with the smell of hot coco.

"Hey Beast Boy." The Boy Wonder said as he sank himself down next to his friend.

The former Doom-patrol member came back to reality with a shock. "Whoa Dude." He said. "How long have you been here?"

"Not that long." The spike-haired Titan answered. "I'm starting to get ready for bed. That way I'll be back on my normal schedule by morning. Just decided to get a mug of hot chocolate before I hit the hay. That's when I saw you sitting here." He added two questions after a short pause. "New video-game? You need to destroy the evil 'wall-empire' or something?"

Beast Boy, noticing his characters actions quickly removed his thumb from the analog stick. "Heh." Was all he could manage with an embarrassed smile on his face.

Now, Dick Grayson was not the heart of the group by any standards. But, as a good team-leader he knew when something was wrong with a member. And true is true, he should have gotten an A for effort. "Coco?" He offered the mug in his left hand and tried to smile warmly.

"Thanks." The metamorphic-master accepted the beverage and cupped it in both hands. Garfield Logan stared out of the window into the night and tried his best to keep conversation light. "It's going to be snowing soon." He remarked. "Weatherman said so. We should get more coco by then."

"Yeah." Robin agreed, but it was clear in his voice that he wasn't interessted in idle chitchat.

Knowing a much more revealing conversation was imminent, Beast Boy tried to preoccupy himself with his cup, as sort of hail mary. He noticed his mug said 'Born to be Mild' in bright red letters. He couldn't bring the effort to smile anymore but he did shrug and grunted in entertainment as he read it. Still using both hands he brought the mug to his mouth and drank. It was good coco, if only he could appreciate it fully. The batman-apprentice did the same. Coincidentally his mug said: 'A cup of coffee a day keeps the doctor away. (But you gotta learn to aim.)'.

"So." Robin said after a few seconds of awkward silence. "Something you want to talk about?" It was clear he didn't know what he was doing really. This was more Starfire's cup of tea. He didn't really do emotions so well.

Let alone the fact that they were two guys...

Beast Boy sighed and answered not unkindly. "Not really." He couldn't even fathom where to begin, truth be told. Nor did he know how to explain this. And not only that but he really hoped to resolve this without his other friends getting involved. They might all agree he was a horrible person. Or maybe revealing it would cause it to be picked at by his teammates. It was bad enough as it was now. If they intervened it might be driven to the point that either he or Raven couldn't even stand being in the same team anymore. The way he felt now, he didn't know if he could even stand such a kind of life. Being on his own seemed like the most dreadful foresight ever. Well, for some reason not truly. What even frightened him more was the idea of Raven being alone. Such an outcome seemed even worse as he realized that he knew how to make friends but that Raven didn't have those skills. (Even if she might be better at maintaining the ones she has.) He'd always tried to bring out that lighter side in her. Make her laugh and see the world wasn't as serious and bleak as she made it out to be. But apparently he'd failed. And it would seem that in the process her attitude had infected him rather than the other way around.

"Uh, yeah." Robin said, rubbing his elbow, unsure of what to do next. "You sure?" He asked.

"Yup." Beast Boy said, taking another sip. He wished the other Titan would drop it.

"Okay." Robin tried his very best to sound cheery but was unsuccessful. "You know." He said, trying a different approach, trying to sound aloof. "It's just that, you know, there's been some tension as of late. Sure you noticed. No big deal, you know, just noticed it seemed concentrated around you and Raven."

Beast Boy clenched his mug. His eyes shifted to the boy next to him, betraying his nerves.

"And you know I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings, right?"

"Huh?" Beast Boy was genuinely confused.

"We were just messing around. You of all people should understand, I think. Prankster that you are and all."

"Are... Are you talking about this morning?" The green boy ventured. "About pretending Raven and I were had the hots for each-other?"

"Yeah. Of course. What else?" Robin stopped for a few seconds as doubts grew. "Wait. Is there something else?"

"No! I mean. No, of course not. What would there be. Yeah, no, I'm... I'm really shook up about that you know. That's all it is man! I mean, Raven and me, blegh."

Afraid he'd missed the ideal exit out of this awkward and potentially dangerous conversation, Beast Boy talked faster and louder than he should have. At the end, as he made the 'blegh' sound he stick out his tongue and hoped he seemed convincing. Robin's narrow stare seemed to indicate the opposite. A few seconds went by as the two boys looked each-other in the eyes, Beast Boy still with his tongue out. He was afraid to move even the slightest. Slowly but surely Robin's mask slid back to it's normal position.

"Right..." The team-leader said. "Just know we didn't mean anything bad by it. We were just goofing around."

"I know. I know." Beast Boy said, clearly relieved. It even brought a smile to his face to know he got out of such a tight spot. Using his new-found optimism the changeling continued his rant. "But don't worry about it. It's no big deal."

"Yeah." The black-haired Titan agreed. "That's what we thought too, when we made the joke." Happily thinking he'd resolved the situation, Robin took a giant gulp from his own mug. "We knew it was ridiculous enough to not be taken too seriously by you two."

"Yeah." A still smiling Beast Boy agreed absentmindedly. Just as he raised his own mug his leader's words got through to him. "Wait. What?"

It would seem Robin remained oblivious of the comment however. He continued his talk and only disrupted it to drink his hot coco. "I mean if ever any two superheroes would be to come together like that, it sure as hell wouldn't be you two right?"

"Yeah. I guess." Beast Boy replied honestly. It felt like truth in any case.

"I mean not just that you two don't have anything in common but you'd just be like pure poison to each-other."

Uncomfortable with all the emotions this conversation was hatching up, seeing his current status to Raven, Garfield tried to laugh. He tried desperately to make it seem like it all seemed trivial to him as well. He didn't see him and Raven as romantic partners, after all she surely had never displayed such an interest. He did think she was pretty and pretty cool to boot. But his own experience with Terra had put him off of any hopes and dreams of any kind of serious relationship. (He'd decided 'serious' wasn't his style'.) And definitely not with another superheroine. And her frequent useage of him as a verbal and even physical punching-bag made it a rather difficult image to form in his brain. Besides it was hard enough to get her to tolerate him. Let alone like him in any more significant way. He'd always tried to make her happy, and that's what he'd wanted more than anything in the world. But what his leader suggested was true. If they were to become an item, Beast Boy feared she'd get annoyed out of her mind. These were some of the reasons why he'd never given it much thought. And he'd always been happy to be her friend in the past and that had been plenty (and plenty of trouble). But the way boy wonder talked made it seem even more hopeless to regain even their friendship.

The top-titan continued, still oblivious. "I'm just saying that it would be a disaster waiting to happen, right? You'd get on each-others nerves and then suddenly, poof the damn would break. I mean you wouldn't be able to face eachother anymore, the Titans would split up, it would be horrible."

"Hehe... Yeah dude." Beast Boy said in a far weaker voice than he intended.

"So what I guess I'm trying to say, Beast Boy, is that I'm glad the two of you have found a way to cope with each-other. A way to be friends in spite of your differences. Because I'll tell you, there were times I feared she'd never talk to you again."

All beast boy could manage was a nervous fake laugh.

Full of the deluded idea that he'd just solved an in-team crisis Robin got up from the chair in one swift move, drank the last of his coco with a smile and declared: "Well Beast Boy. Good talk. Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to bed. Nothing, and I mean **nothing**, is standing between me and a well-earned, good night's sleep."

That's when the world exploded.

Five times.

The room was already lit in red light, flickering on and off, by the time Robin spoke again. "Damn." He said under the sound of the Titan-alarm.

"Dude." Beast Boy said, calmly putting away his hot beverage and looking his leader in the eyes. "Take it from the master: 'You should never say such things out loud'."

* * *

It didn't take long for the five Titans to assemble. Robin had quickly delegated them to meet up in the basement with Cyborg and the T-car so they could take their leave as soon as possible. He'd asked Cyborg to get as much information as he could and was therefore not surprised to see Raven, Starfire and the the big guy himself huddled around a giant screen when he and Beast Boy arrived.

The basement/garage of the giant T was vast and mostly empty. The walls were metal and a rather blue light resonated around the room.

Robin wasted no time and already fetched his helmet, which lay on his bike. The R-cycle was parked a few feet next to the T-car, both a little less then then yards away from his fellow Titans.

Beast boy scooted over to his friends. He saw the situation on the giant map on display himself when Robin asked for it.

"Man. Looks like we've got five explosions across the city nearly simultaneously. All a good few miles away from eachother."

"Not to mention they roughly form a pentagon." Raven added. "Perhaps demonic activity?"

"I'm just getting reports from the police of a robot army attacking at each of the five locations." Cyborg said.

"Not demons then." Raven decided.

"What are the locations?" Robin enquired as he put on his helmet.

Raven listed them. "Grey Boulevard, The museum of fine arts. The West-side police-station. The water-purifying-station and that new power-plant."

As he put on his driving-gloves, and with his visor up, the leader asked them and himself an important question. "What kind of super-villain would need something from those five places?"

"I don't know, seems like that would be a very complicated doomsday-plan." Cyborg said, studying the map and rubbing his chin. The brotherhood and brother blood are both locked up. So maybe it's Slade? What do you think Robin?"

"I don't know. I usually get this kind of feeling when it's him." Robin offered, ready to go. "I don't know why, but this isn't exactly his style. It doesn't feel right. Well, five spots, five Titans. Pick your target team."

"Wait. Are you telling me you don't find this the least bit suspicious?" Raven asked, turning away from the screen to face Robin.

"I usually find people blowing up our neighbourhood suspicious by itself." Cyborg joked.

"What I mean is that we haven't considered that some of these targets may be decoys. We'll have to spread out, we're weaker that way." Raven explained, a tiny bit annoyed by the fact that Cyborg wasn't taking this serious enough. "Five spots and five Titans. A bit of a coincidence, no?"

"I have considered it, Raven." Dick Grayson spoke clear. "But this one time, back in Gotham, the Batman and I fought Poison Ivy. She kept popping up poisonous plants as distractions. Schools, shopping malls, and such, she knew we couldn't let those people there die. But the thing was, we had to play along until we knew more, until we found out exactly where she was. We don't know who these guys are. We don't know what they want. All we know now is that people are in danger. We have to evacuate the civilians there and keep our eyes open for any leads. I don't like it either, Raven, but we have no choice."

"Agreed, we must go help the inhabitants of the city. But must we do the splitting up?" Starfire asked, concerned for her two fighting friends and especially Raven. She still wasn't convinced that the Azarathian's powers were at their peak. "Can we not, together, storm from one place to the next?"

Robin shook his head. "We can't risk that. Too many lives are at stake here. Starfire, you're the fastest, go to the power-plant, it's the furthest away. Beast Boy, the boulevard is the closest, fly to there. Raven, the water-purifying station is just about as close from this point. You don't have transportation either so take that one. Cyborg take your car and help out the cops, I'll go for the museum. Keep your communicators close, I want any lead, any problem and anything reported directly."

Starfire and Raven agreed reluctantly, both still not convinced this was a good plan. They thought so for different reasons however. Cyborg merely bobbed his head up and down, signaling he accepted his mission. Beast Boy however, though he'd heard his assignment, hadn't taken his eyes off of the map for a single second. He didn't even move when the garage-door opened and his friends started to head out.  
He just stood there staring in a confused manner as both Raven and Starfire detached themselves from the floor, Cyborg got in his car and Robin hopped on his bike.

"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled, slightly angry that his teammate wasn't budging.

Finally the changeling tore his gaze from the screen, turned around and transformed into a cheetah. The others were already above the water by the time he reached the hangar-door. He leapt and, in mid-jump, turned into an eagle.

As he soared through the sky he tried desperately to shake of the dread he felt inside his bones. It all seemed to familiar. This entire situation.

But he had to shake it off. After all, it couldn't be. They were still in prison.

He closed his eyes as the city got closer and closer but he still saw that pentagon.

And it felt all too familiar.

He didn't like it one bit.


	5. Ackbar

SKIP THIS BIT IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN MY RAMBLING.

Hey everyone. Chapter 5 is now up. I know I'm letting some time fall between the updates but I'm doing my best to update regularly. And I'll be honest I'd hoped for more feedback. I'm not sure people are really enjoying this story all that much. But to those of you that do, don't worry I'll do my best to finish the story before too long. (I won't go George R. R. Martin on you guys.)

Thanks to BlackCat160 for reviewing chapter 4 and sharing her favorite part. I'll be sure to take your comment into concideration and find a way to keep that tone alive throughout the story.

Also a big thanks to all the followers and those who 'favorited' the story!

All of you are what drives me to finish the damn story. (Still have quite some work with the finale and such.)

Also thanks to my beta, Dustin Perry. Who beta-read up to chapter 6 I believe but with whom I've since seemed to lose contact. If anyone else is interested in being a beta for the later chapters, let me know.

Oh. And Merry Christmass.

STORY STARTS HERE

* * *

**Disclaimer: **Perhaps I'll get them for Christmass, but I don't own the rights to TT yet in any case.

**Chapter 5: Ackbar**

**Alternate title: **Alright, who took my potato chip and ate it?

* * *

Officer Jonas Brady was a fifty-eight year-old white man. He'd started his career at the force at the age of twenty-one. At the time he'd been a proud example of the finest the blue had to offer. He'd been an adonis. Not like the villain but a true adonis. Now however, he was a grey, quite overweight man with a bushy mustache that seemed to try and make up for his receding hair-line. Which it didn't.

In his years in the force he'd seen it all. Theft, homicide, burglary, kidnapping, speeding, drugdealers, jaywalking... The list went on. But this situation he and his entire precinct were in, was far beyond normal. He'd seen it happen. More and more of these masked vigilantes stepped into the ring. They weren't around when he'd been a kid. They weren't messing up decent police-work back then. And not only did their interference cause a lot more stress and work for him and his fellow officers, but these fancy-caped glory-hounds took all the credit and seemed to lure out more and more of the crazies. And if there was one thing he hated more than a superhero it was a super-villain.

After all, the bastards didn't even play fair! Laser-guns, mutants, aliens... how was the good ol' blue supposed to withstand that? He didn't even know who was causing this attack by yellow-and-gray colored robots but he sure as hell wanted to give him a piece of his mind.

He couldn't however because he, like all his co-workers, was pinned down. The entire building, which was a lone building on top of a man-made hill, was surrounded by the artificial monsters. He'd shot down five already but they just kept coming.

Currently he sat behind his trusty old service car. He'd named her Betty, after his first love. It currently lay on it's side, scorched by the heat of the enemy's lasers. Betty was totally wrecked, battered up and shred. Just like how his relationship with the original Betty had ended, really.

Right now, Jonas sat down, leaning against the bottom of his flipped ride. He clutched his shoulder witch was grazed and burned a few seconds before. Together with a few other's he formed the first line of defense. Some took shelter behind trees, others like him behind busted up vehicles in the parking lot. Some even took cover behind benches and the likes. When they failed to withstand this mechanized force, and Jonas knew they would, everyone would have to fall back into the building. Right now, as the pain surged from his shoulder to the rest of his body, he did not have much hope for reaching the far-off threshold himself.

As he wiped the sweat from his brow, he felt the determination rise inside his body. He would not flee. He had become a police officer because he'd believed there was something worth protecting in this city. If he were to die for that hope, so be it. If he wasn't prepared to do so, he was nothing. And he would not let his mother have raised cowardly failure.

Officer Brady leaned his body forward, let go of his right-shoulder and pushed himself up with his two hands. His bones creaked under age and the pressure caused by him neglecting his body. Carefully he picked up the gun he'd dropped when he'd been shot. With his right arm hit it was good that he was ambidextrous. He held it in his left hand.

The old policeman turned around, leaned his left arm on the vehicle and pulled the trigger a few times. The swear-words he yelled furiously were deafened by the loud bangs of his firearm. He didn't even flinch when the beams of light flew over and next to him by a few mere inches.

That's when the cavalary arrived, a white car crashed through the outer line of robots. Metal flew in all directions as the unstoppable white car made it's way to the station. None of the policemen were stupid enough to fire at it.

The cavalary had indeed arrived.

And it yelled: "BOOYAAH!"

* * *

The computer-room of the new 'Jump-City Power-plant' was an absolute mess. The initial blast had shaken the facility to it's foundations. Part of the roof had collapsed and the back-up generator was late in shedding light on the full extent of the situation.

Throughout the room scientists and maintenance crew coughed as the dusty air filled their lungs. Near-blind in the dark they stumbled over rubble and fallen co-workers. One man kept screaming: 'I'm deaf!'. They moved aimlessly. Many of them figured an unannounced and unexpected nuclear meltdown had taken place. In which case they were all pretty much doomed anyway, along with the entire city and good part beyond that.

When the back-up generator kicked in, however, they saw it was not so.

Samantha Brits was one of the scientist's working at the plant. She'd started her carreer there a few months ago, immediately after graduating. Samantha was a rather young african-american woman who usually wore her hair braided, down. Her petite figure along with her last name had earned her the nick-name 'Little Britain' among her colleagues. Apart from having a mayor in theoretical physics the mid-twenties lady had a keen sense of orientation. In the dark, for example, she'd managed to move over to her own laptop on her own desk. She knew this place like the back of her hand.

When the light sprung back on, so did the computers and all vital data.

"Thank God!" She announced to all and none. Her loud expression did cause her to have to cough. "The reactor's damaged but still intact. It didn't go off!"

"That's bloody marvelous!" A pessimistic voice sounded somewhere in the room.

Samantha didn't care. They hadn't caused the death of thousands. This was still good news.  
It may seem cold to some that she didn't go help up her unconscious colleagues like some of her co-workers did, but miss Brits did have best intentions at heart. After all, this kind of damage had to be monitored to avoid a nuclear catastrophe.

She allowed herself one quick breath of air in which she viewed the damaged room. It was build in a semi-circle. Her desk was one of twenty-five in the outer ring. Hers was located near the far left side. The next ring had 15, the next 10 and then 5. Behind her was a hightened platform that ran acros the entire wall. In the middle of it was 'the crow's nest', a box-room within the room itself for the head of maintenance and the head of security. All away across the room was a giant computer-screen any 'extremely important' news could be directed to immediately.

She decided to forward the current status of the reactor to the giant screen to inform anyone that hadn't heard her. When finished she started pulling data and made calculations like her life depended on it.

Well, it actually did really.

"We've got another problem!" A man's voice sounded from somewhere behind her.

The sense of urgency in the voice made Samantha turn around and take notice. Up in the crow's nest a security-officer who's name she recalled being 'Steve' something, stared at a computer-screen of his own. The glass of the metal box he was in had broken, making communication rather easy.  
Even from down there 'Little Britain' could see the man moving his mouse and entering some codes. The next thing she knew her information about the reactor got pulled from the big screen, only to be replaced by the footage of a damaged security-camera. The crack on the lens' right top corner couldn't hide the horror however.

Marching like a combination of soldiers, zombies and transformers was an army of robot's. Headed straight for newly made hole in the power-plant.

"Well, we're boned." The same sarcastic voice from before repeated.

"Looks like they're headed for your precious reactor 'Little Britain'." Steve something called out.

Immediately he reached for the phone and contacted his co-workers. His actions made sense to her: he had to warn them and get them to defend the facility. Samantha took her eyes off the screen. She'd found long ago that it was best not to focus on stuff you had no control over. The status and stability of the nuclear reactor which, if left untended, tended to turn into a nuclear timebomb was something she did have knowledge about. So while her fellow colleagues sat staring intensely at the giant screen in awe of the impending threat, Samantha Brits stared intensely at the little screen in front of her to avoid another one.

She wasn't oblivious to the sounds her co-workers were making however. So when the shocked mumbling turned to loud cheering she just had to look up herself.

"We're saved!" A fellow female scientist screamed from the top of her lungs.

"It's a Titan!" A middle-aged maintenance-man bellowed as a figure flew in from the left and blasted twoof the hostiles.

"It's the alien girl!" A far of high-pitched voice that Samantha couldn't quite place agreed.

The explosions from the battle outside damaged the camera even further. The uprising dust made it impossible to see anything, even through the, now all-over, cracked lens. The video-feed quickly turned useless.

"We're going to be alright! People we are going to be fine!" The previously mentioned fellow female scientist cheered enthusiastically. There were some cheers of agreement.

Samantha Brits bit her lower lip and thought to herself: 'There's no time like the present'. Then she hit the necessary buttons and her data on the reactor reappeared on the screen. It was all red now and a clock was counting down.

"No. We're not." She said loudly.

She didn't have to, the room had grown quiet by itself as the red screen blinked and the seconds ticked away.

* * *

Unlike her friends Cyborg and Starfire, Raven did not go in guns-blazing. From the moment she came near the facility she sensed something important: 'fear'. But it wasn't hers. This robot-army had taken a hostage. She realised they'd only bothered to take one hostage. Why this was she had no clue. But he couldn't sense the rest of the employees such as the night-watchmen, so they were either let go, unconscious or worse...  
Attacking the sentries was not an option. Robot's were cold and had no thoughts of their own. Her telepathic powers did not extend to inanimate objects which these artificial brains basically were. This way she could not make sure the person in question would remain unharmed if she made her presence aware to the enemy. Who knows if they were programmed to harm the hostage if they noticed a threat?

She decided on stealth. As any daughter of shadows would do.

As the Titan crawled through the long, metal and lonely corridors she tried to make telepathic contact with the hostage. She knew this was a dangerous move seeing as this required her to take focus off of her surroundings. But without knowing where to look, Raven feared she might not be able to save this person, and perhaps even the whole city, in time. She felt like she had no choice.

The Azarathian closed her eyes after turning a corner and making sure there was no-one there. Far off she could hear the metallic footsteps patrolling the area. Though they sounded a lot more near than she'd liked. The last thing she saw for a while was the ill-lit hallway of a good fifty yards away. On both sides were two doors and between each two doors were iron sets of lockers. As far as she could see the hallway ended on a T-section. A blue arrow to the left said: 'Pumping-station'. A red arrow to the right said: 'purity-control-room'.

As her eyes closed her standard mantra came to mind. Softly she mouthed the words 'Azarath Metrion Zinthos' and searched for the mysterious hostage. It wasn't easy. Frightened people tend to block off their mind from others. This man... this middle-aged husband was no exception. She understood. Having the feeling of someone entering your mind in such dire times would be stressful. But all she could do was send out a signal that told him she was of no threat and that he wasn't hallucinating. He had to open up before they could truly talk.

It surely didn't work the first time, nor the second. A lot of tries went by but Raven was a Titan. And Titans are persistent.

"What's your name?"She asked a bit too loud for comfort in the echoing hallways. Her eyes were closed but her mind's eye was as sharp as ever. This had to be the tenth time she tried to make contact, it shouldn't be this hard. Perhaps Starfire had been right about something, not about Beast Boy, but about her powers having grown weaker. She recalled the encounter with her encaged self earlier that night. She would get to the bottom of this, but right now she had to shake it off. And she managed to do just that when she finally made contact.

"Go away! You're not real. I don't need schizophrenia right now, I need to keep my head clear." The answer came back and rang in her skull.

This was giving her a headache. Reaching for her forehead with her right hand, she sank on one knee and tried to sound convincing. She placed he left hand on the wall beside her, as trying to gain balance.

"I'm here to help." She whispered to the dark. "But you have to let me in."

"Oh great. Now I'm really going insane. And my doctor told me specifically to avoid stress!" Was the answer of the unconvinced man. "And my wife's not going to believe me. I told her I'd be home in a few hours. Now she'll go back to thinking I'm having an affair."

Well... at least it was progress. At least she was in. Though she kind of wished she wasn't.

"You don't understand..." She managed, a few tiny sweat-drops formed on her face as she tried to focus. This was difficult as she felt her own mind wander as well, to where she did not know as she wouldn't let it. "I'm a 'Teen Titan."

For a moment a silence grew between the two. Raven hoped that the hostage had finally accepted truth and would let her in. The man turned out still not to be convinced however.

"You've lost it Feng, you've read to many superhero-comics again. There's no-one coming to rescue you. You've got to find a way out yourself. You've got to stay sharp." He said, or rather thought, to himself. "You're just imaging things because you forgot to take your pills. The doctor told you to take your pills, why didn't you? Your worthless you do know that? That's why your wife can't stand you. Shut up. I don't need this right now. Stop it all of us!"

A loud 'bonk' echoed through the halls. Raven immediately regretted her silly outburst. In frustration of the screaming inside the man's head she'd punched the wall by her left. In a momentary weakness she'd endangered her entire cover.

And judging by the metallic footsteps drawing near, she'd blown it entirely indeed.

Her powers may have been failing her, but her brain didn't. Knowing that trying to pry into a mentaly-unstable mind had left her without all the energy she needed for phasing through walls, she would have to find a different way to hide. The Azarathian girl quickly stood upright, supporting herself using the same wall that had helped put her in this dire situation. Catlike, she moved towards the right-hand row of five lockers and tried to pry them open. They were tall and deep enough, by her judgement, to hide in. The first one was locked. The footsteps drew near. There was no doubt in her mind, they'd heard her stupid move. The second one wasn't closed, her heart jumped. But as she opened it, it faltered. The locker was filled to the brink with papers, clothes and, for some strange reason, half-eaten sandwiches. No way she had time to get those out of the way. She silently closed the door. The footsteps were only a few corners away by now, it sounded like four of the buggers. She wasn't worried she couldn't take them but she was worried about this Feng's safety. A bit more frantically now she tried the third door. Locked as well! Already a plan of attack was forming in her brain. She wondered if there was any way to extract the necessary information from the sentries. If only Cyborg was here, he could read robo-brain. The fourth door was locked as well. Could this be going any worse?! She didn't need to be able to read their minds to know they were just around the corner.  
The dark aura already formed around her right hand protectively. With her left she tugged at the door and felt it open. With no time to waste she pressed herself against the wall and closed the door as quick and quiet as she could. Not a second too soon, seeing as the four robots turned around the corner. Now all she had to hope was that they did not have X-ray vision.

The four metal men scanned the hallway. Raven wondered if it was her imagination or whether they really looked at her locker longer. They did by the way.

But then, without warning, the four androids turned around and marched back.

Raven sighed in relief. The tight space wasn't very relaxing, nor comforting but she decided to stay inside and try to reach Feng one last time. This time, using a different approach.

Raven visualised her thoughts, closed her eyes and whispered to herself: "Ok Feng, time for me to analyse my situation. Where am I and how can I get out of here?"

Her plan was obviously to get Feng to talk to himself, rather than her. He seemed to have a lot more experience in that deparement. Perhaps it would dbe easier for him to believe she was his inner survival-instict than her being a superhero. The crazy part is that it worked.

"Yes. Yes. Ok." Came the reply Raven was able to pick up. "I'm in the pumping-station. So I'll have to make my way to the labs. From there I'll be able to take a few hallways into the executive office. There's an emergency ladder outside the window that leads to the reservoir. From there I can cross the bridges, find a way over the wall and escape into the sea. I'm a pretty good swimmer aren't I? Your father wanted you to drown, not swim. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. You failed him. Shut up."

"Okay now. I must stay focused. How many guards will I have to take out before I get there?" Raven asked both him as well as herself.

"Eight, I think. How can I do that... Damn! You're worthless. No, stay focused! But how? These are Robots I can't distract them with anything or confuse them like that. And if I just run for it, they'll probably shoot me..." She could nearly hear him cry with the hopelessness of the situation.

"Is there anything else I'll have to pass, given that I can make it past the guards?" Raven asked.

"Yeah... maybe I can disable the booby-trap bomb they put on the front door. But no. I think I'd rather take my chances with the vents, I'm short and skinny enough, right? You're a skinny rat. Nobody loves you. No, they do you don't know what you're talking about. And I can escape. I can fit. It's good that I'm skinny. It's good today. You need to shut up. It's good today."

"Right." Raven confirmed without really knowing. "But with all those dangers, perhaps I'd better wait for a better opportunity to escape."

"Yeah. I guess so." Feng mentaly sighed in defeat. "You're worthless."

Raven opened her eyes and willingly closed the connection. She knew where to go, that was the important thing.

Still inside the marginal safety of the locker, Raven reached for her communicator. "Robin?" She asked. "Are you there?"

* * *

Back in Adonis' former lair, the brotherhood of evil's master-war-strategist sat behind a giant computer. He studied the green data on the black screen with mild intrest. He was flanked by the brain and professor Chang.

"Aha." The brain said as a specific green line appeared at the bottom of the screen. "Excellent. General. If. You. Would. Give. The. Order?"

"I can do this myself, Brain." General Immortus said as he pulled out his communicator from pocket. It was a flat, red and black skull-shaped device. He pressed on one of the teeth and spoke. "Your target has been sighted near the water-purifying plant, as expected. Move in and await further orders."

"Underztood." Was the only reply.

* * *

A museum is usually a nice calm place to enrich the mind and find a sort of inner peace by looking at the finest creations by mankind.

It wasn't now.

Right now the beautifully designed brown, oak hall was a war zone. Inside this large exhibit-room with two islands of red couches in the centre and many great paintings on the walls, Robin was fighting a squad of the mechanized military.

Robin's Bo-staff swung upward and hit a robot right under it's artificial armpit. The robotic arm broke off. Another sidewards slash with the staff and the head went flying too. There wasn't any time to celebrate conquering this foe however, seeing as another eight surrounded him, not counting the one he'd taken care of before. A summersault allowed him to avoid the deadly lasers and pull out a grappling cable. Before he hit the ground he shot it at the one foe straight in front of him. It hit and the enemy intertwined. As Robinlanded he rolled across the floor and sent his body flying, feet first, at his powerless enemy. The impact was hard enough to make circuits and bolts fly across the room.

He would never admit the fatigue was getting to him, but it was. Though he still considered himself more than a match for the seven remaining robots.

When his feet made contact with the floor again, he turned around and for a brief second judged the situation. The enemy was roughly standing in a reversed V-formation. The furthest one's back was practically against the wall. In one swift movement he threw his bo-staff forward. Like a javelin it pierced the furthest robot and pinned him to a blank spot of the wall. Within seconds he was slowly but surely trying to pry himself loose. Robin raised his right hand and tauntingly beckoned the others come get him.  
Which, if you think about it, is a useless thing to do, seeing as robots have no emotions and can not be taunted. But some situations just ask for cool gestures and moves, I suppose, and Robin kind of had a flair for drama that way.

Guns raised and firing at will, the robots moved in.

But so did Robin. As the bright beams of light shot passed him, nearly hitting their target, boy wonder smoothly grabbed two sticky-bombs from his utility-belt. He ran past the first two foes. He even ran past the second two. But the third pair was close enough for his plan. Robin jumped up, just in the nick of time, seeing as the same place was blasted less then a second later, did a salto. Just as he passed the pair of metal military men, upside down in mid-air, he stuck both enemies with the bombs. Three seconds later, and only one second after he hit the ground with his back facing them, the duo exploded.

Thinking, or rather processing, that they had a clear shot, the four remaining battle-worthy synthetic soldiers took aim and blasted simultaneously. They couldn't even calculate that Robin had foreseen this and rolled to his left. Already a birdarang was in his hand, but not for long. With one hand, one foot and one knee on the floor the weapon was launched by the Titan-leader. It decapitated not just one but two of the droids.

Unfortunately, and completely unforeseeable, the second robot's mechanisms spasmed with left-over commands and energy. His rifle went off and by coincidence it hit the other decapitated robot. This one proceeded to explode and some of the shrapnel, an arm, hit Robin in the torso. The teen fell over.

The two remaining able-bodied enemies quickly took advantage of this turn of events. Before The masked man could get up, the droids advanced, one of them fired.

Meanwhile the pinned-down droid was half-way to freedom.

Without any other possible action available, Robin tugged his superior cape, it withstood the blast of the energy-gun but not the impact. This time he fell flat on his back. When he reopened his eyes he saw his foe bent over him. The blaster was aimed right at his face. Grayson's foot shot up out of reflex and kicked the gun out of the robots hands. Before he could land another move, however, the tin-can lifted him up in the air with one hand and punched him in the gut, followed by the cheek, with the other.

As Robin's body went limp, the droid tossed him to his ally. This one caught him by the wrist and held him up high, just like before. Only this time there was a gun pointed at the Titan.

The robot pinned-down by the bo-staff had nearly reached the end of the long stick.

Awoken by the pain in his left wrist, Robin saw the gun charging, getting ready to blow a hole straight through his belly. With his free hand he grabbed the barrel at the last possible moment and pushed it away from him with all his might. The shot went off and hit the robot that had held him previously.

Knowing he only had a split-second, Robin let go of the gun. As expected it moved towards his body once more. His own hand moved towards his utility-belt and pulled out another birdarang. With all the strenght, will and speed he could muster he planted it in the wrist that held his. Luckily the circuits went haywire, he felt the fake fingers loosen. Robin hit the floor and ducked. The second shot flew right over his hair. As the boy wonder rose, his right arm flew up with great speed. The uppercut was successful and the bot staggered backwards.

The once pinned-down robot was no longer pinned down. With one last, hard step forward he moved past the end of the staff, ready to fight again. He bent down to pick up the gun he'd dropped.

Robin flanked the staggering robot cat-like. As he went to the left of this foe, he alligned both remaining enemies. Knowing to take advantage of any possibility, Dick Grayson performed a roundhouse-kick which sent the first bot flying towards the second. Both flew towards the wall, pierced again by the bo-staff.

As the two tried to get themselves free, Robin reached for his belt and pulled out another explosive. He threw it. The mini-bomb attached itself to the closest enemy. Robin turned around and, without looking back, walked away from the explosion. Simply because cool guys don't look at explosions.

The junior detective moved towards one of the manually deactivated robots. He sank to one knee and studied one of the energy-rifles.

It was at this point that his communicator went off. Cursing himself for not doing it earlier, he grabbed it from his belt, pushed a few buttons and transformed it to be attached to his ear. After correctly placing it he pushed one more button and immediately heard Ravens voice ask: "Robin? Are you there?"

"I'm here." He answered. "Please tell me you've got a good update Raven. I just took down a patrol but I'm still not sure what they're after over here."

"Sorry Robin, it's the same here. They've booby-trapped the entire facility and taken at least one hostage. I'm forced to sneak my way to them, though I've found out where they're holed-up." Came her reply.

It sounded to Robin that on Raven's side of the communicator a metalic door opened slowly.

"Be careful." He said. "But try to move quickly."

"I will. But I don't like this one bit. Why these five spots?"

"I don't know but..." He paused mid-sentence. Across the room was a janitor's cabinet. He wondered. Was it his imagination or had he really heard something knock against the wooden door? "Hold up for one second Raven." He said.

After pulling the bo-staff out of the wall, the team-leader crept towards the cabinet. His hand cupped the handle and pulled it down. As the door swung open he realized he hadn't been wrong.

Inside was a redhead in her late thirties wearing a business suit. She eyed him terrified while cowering in the corner.

"Raven. I know, but I'm going to have to call you back in a minute. Get moving and watch your surroundings. Any leads are welcome."

* * *

Grey boulevard was a complete mess. The first explosion had hit the middle of the street. The explosives had been planted in the sewers below, but the people in the vicinity couldn't care less about semantics. The flying rubble had caused it's own damage to man and property and if that wasn't bad enough, there was the army of freaking robots crawling out from the exposed sewers. They walked out of two skyscrapers as well, about a kilometer apart, blocking off anyone's escape-route. Bottom line, if you were between these metal, shooting walls, you were boned.

Panic roamed the street and people nearly trampled eachother, desperatly trying to find a way out. But everywhere they looked they saw the metal men closing in. If you stood to listen, you could hear them playing a message. In an awfull robotic tone they told the humans to stand down and surrender. They would not be killed if they just remained calm.

Like that was going to happen.

Humans tend to panic and abandon all reason when they've got two hundred guns or so pointed at them. It's kind of a defense-mechanism, really.  
However, as the herd moves, some fall. One of those was a seven-year-old boy. His name's not all that important, but it was Jeffrey if you must know. Little Jeffrey wore a dark cloak in childhood naiveté that it would make him inconspicuous. He needed it seeing as he'd actually snuck out of his room to go see a late-night premiering of the newest superhero movie.

Jeffrey wasn't a big boy for his age and the most of his childhood had been spent, so far, on reading. Comics, books, fanfiction on the internet, you name it, he read it. Superheroes were his favorite subject and he vowed to be one himself some day. The stuff childhood dreams are made off...

Having read a great deal of comics, Jeffrey knew how to respond when a hostile force such as this attacked. First of all he'd have to keep his cool, losing an objective view of the situation would not increase his survival chances. Then he'd have to find a way out and make others aware, saving as many lives as he could. Lastly he'd have to find a weakness in the army's defenses and exploit it.

Jeffrey knew all this. But, he was also a seven-year-old boy, and so he panicked. Running away scared from one of the tin-cans, he looked behind to make sure he was no long being followed. He was though, and because he didn't look forward, he bumped into someone much bigger than himself. A panicking man that didn't stop to care for others as he feared for his own life.

Jeffrey fell. As he crawled to his knees he heard the dreaded robot's voice get nearer and nearer. Someone stepped on his fingers and he cried in pain. Yet he forced himself to look back and saw the metal thing walk straight for him.  
"Stop moving." It told him.

Terrified, Jeffry rolled on his back and and crawled backwards. The pain in his hand stung but he pushed on.

"Stop or I will fire." The inhuman, emotionless voice added. It raised it's blaster and aimed it for Jeffry's little head, right between his eyes.

Jeffry could here the shots fire around him and he shuddered at the thought of being hit by one of them. He still frantically pushed himself backward, stopping didn't even occur to his young mind. Through his spectacle he looked into the barrel and wished he were braver. The gun lit up and little Jeffry knew in his little heart that his little life was over.

But then the darnest thing happened.

A green lion jumped in front of him and took that shot for him. It took it right in the shoulder. A mighty roar was heard throughout the street, portraying both pain and an unmeasurable anger. The lion leaped and soon the robot was no more then spare parts.

"Cool." Jeffry gasped, a blissful smile spreading across his face.

* * *

The bald general picked up his own communicator once more. All the while his eyes did not leave the screen.

"Your target is at Grey Boulevard. Move in and stay in contact with Madame Rouge. Move as one." He said.

"I will do my best. But I can not speak for her." Answered a voice in a French accent at the other end of the communicator.

* * *

The rubble around her seemed surreal. A dozen of these robots were already nothing more than piles of shrapnel. And yet she knew there were more, much more.

This was a dangerous place to fight and she dared not use all her powers to the full extent. If one of her bolts or beams were to miss and hit the wrong place, things could turn out badly. She'd didn't know much about humans but she'd heard that they weren't to happy about radiation.

Sometimes it came as a shock to Starfire just how weak human bodies were. Their minds and spirits stood tall, no doubt. But the average human could not catch a falling bus. They couldn't shoot beams out of their eyes nor even fly. Their fragility was simply ridiculous. But perhaps that was the reason why they tended to bond with eachother. Sure there were global conflicts, but the average human was so much more 'sociable' and 'nice' than the average Tameranean. And that might just be what made them worth fighting for. For as long as they could, she hoped she and her friends could protect them.

Her friends... She hoped they faired well in their fights. As she'd fought the dozen robots a bunch more had made their way through the hole in the wall. Starfire, holding the communicator in her palm, considered if she had the time to contact her friends before she had to chase after them. Then she heard a voice.

"Titan!" It called from somewhere from behind.

Starfire turned and saw a man standing on a ridge in the distance, just outside an emergency-exit. He was dressed like a guard. As he waved in front of the metal and cement building he came out of he called her again.

"Titan! Over here!"

She obliged him and flew over. When she landed he stuck out his arm as a gesture of greeting. She accepted and shook it hastily. "I'm Steve Marshallson." He said as if it were an explanation in itself. He was a tall man, towering over her looking with a broad but worried face.

Starfire turned her gaze over her shoulders towards the hole in the building. At least sixty robots had made it in by her account, she didn't have time for this. "Nice to meet you, but I must make the chase after these robots, Steve Marshallson."

"No you don't. You need to come with me." He answered back. "Miss Britts sent me out here to come and get you. There's something very wrong with the reactor."

"That is a bad thing, yes?" Asked Starfire, not knowing much of Earthly science.

Steve's grin was made entirely out of despair. "Yes." He offered eagerly. His eyes mad with terror. "That's a very bad thing."

* * *

There had to be hundreds of the buggers. And they were all denting up his ride!

As Cyborg reached the outer barrier of the blue boys' last stand he hit the brakes and let the car spin to a stop. He pressed one button which changed all powerflow from weapons to defences and left his baby. All shots aimed at her now just bounced off a blue energy-shield. That being said the T-car had taken quite a beating in getting him so far through the enemy lines.

He'd parked her next to the wreckage of a less fortunate car and was smart enough to get out at the right side. Which was the safe side. It was there that he found an overweight, old cop clutching his shoulder, sitting on one knee and looking at him with a mixture of gratitude and contempt. The moustache on him reminded Cyborg he'd have to give his room a good sweeping. The gun in his hand wasn't a standard police pistol but a true peacemaker, a six-shot.

"You just cut straight through their lines." The cop said as way of greeting. "Are you insane?"

"Only when I've got to be. Name's Cyborg, I'm a Titan and I'm here to ..." Cyborg explained before he was cut off.

"Oh, I know who you are, vigilante." The police-officer spoke loud and clear. The bitterness of his voice was unmistakable. "It's this personal war that you and those super-villains have that's the cause of all this. If your lot had never risen to take matters in you own hands, they would have never risen. If it weren't for you and your friends we would have had just normal crime instead of a freaking robot-army invading on our precinct!"

Cyborg was taken aback for a few seconds but wasn't about to let this man get to him. "Well mr. …?" He asked politely.

"Brady. Officer Jonas Brady."

"Well, mr. Brady, if you'd like I could turn around now and let this artificial menace slaughter every last one of you. But I don't think you are in any position to turn away guns at this point."

Officer Brady made a noise which sounded like: 'Ech'. "Who says you're such a good shot anyways. I need men now, not boys. Our men. Guys I can rely on."

All the while keeping eye-contact with the bitter old man in front of him. The boy formerly known as Victor Stone stood upright, put his shooting arm across the surface of the tipped-over car and blind-fired one blast. The exploding droid was audible even at the outer-defenses.

"That one's on the house." Said Cyborg. "Now if you value your men's lives more than you value your own pride you'll let me help you."

The copper kept his mouth shut for a few seconds.

"I don't like you kid." He said, his voice leaking the pain in his shoulder. "But start blasting."

* * *

She was a rather beautiful woman, Robin noticed, but that effect was entirely spoiled by her running eyeliner and the snot above her lip.

Glad that he carried his utility-belt, boy wonder pulled out a handkerchief and offered it to her. She still clung to the back of the cabinet but grasped it wearily.

"You're not here to hurt me?" Her broken voice echoed softly through the giant halls.

Robin put his finger in front of his lips to silence her and nodded slowly. In response she wiped the tears and boogers from her face.

"You're Robin, right?" She asked wearily, still not trusting the situation full-heartedly. She'd caught his drift and spoke in nothing but a whisper.

"Yes." He replied, equally quiet. "And I'm here to help you get out. But who are you?"

"June March." She whimpered quietly as she spoke. "I'm the custodian of this museum."

"Did they hurt you June?" His concern was genuine, a good leader cares not just for the mission but for the onces under his care as well.

"No-no. But they took the others..."

"Who? Where?"

Her reply was as frantic as frantic got. "I don't know where! They-they just took them, okay?! This is so unfair! We weren't even supposed to be open tonight. This shouldn't have happened. We were just working on a new display about the 'mask of Komaï' and then suddenly they showed up, this shouldn't have happened! They took all the workers and the security-personnel. I don't know where, okay? I just don't know!" She clutched her head between her arms and shrunk even further before Robin's very eyes.

Her rising voice put Robin ill at ease. If she didn't keep quiet more robots could hear them. He was sure he could defend himself, but his body still ached for a bed. If he didn't run on full capacity, it would be irresponsible to risk her life. Without full strength, there was no guarantee to her safety.

"It's okay." He tried gently, sinking down to her level on one knee. He let her stare in his masked eyes and tried his very best to look comforting. "It's going to be fine. I'm going to make it okay. But I'm going to need you to calm down. I know it's hard, but can you do that for me? Please?"

For a second boy wonder wanted to pat her on the back. But he judged against it in the end. As his hand hand hovered awkwardly he figured she wanted her space.

It paid off, she lowered her arms off her own accord. The woman blew her nose and stared at him with her watery eyes. "Sure." She said meekly and weakly. "Oh, God. I'm not usually like this." She apologized.

Robin was just glad she toned her volume down. "It's okay." He smiled at her. "You are having a bad day, aren't you?"

She snorted a laugh. "Heh. I guess you could say that again."

This was better, at least she was smiling, a little.

"Now, June March, was it?" He asked in a gentile tone of voice.

"Yes, silly name I know, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you my sisters' names." The memory seemed to draw a lighter mood to the woman.

"Try me."

"April and May." She was still crying, but somehow it was not only of fear. "Oh God, we hated our parents so much for that. It's good for a lark now, but you try being identical triplets named April, May and June March."

"Kids can be tough." Robin said, trying to sound knowing.

She replied: "Yes. Yes they can." And somewhere deep inside she found the strength to compose herself.

"Now June." Grayson began after giving her a little breather. "Can you tell me where this special exposition is? What they're after is what I'd like to know. And perhaps I can find your colleagues."

"Help me up." She commanded, not unfriendly but surprisingly stern. She'd obviously found her old strength. Robin obliged. The lady stood a head and a half taller than him. She stroke away the wrinkles in her suit and redid her hair, tying it up at the back. When she was done she immediately struck the boy wonder as someone not to mess with. "Right." She continued. "Listen up."

* * *

Smoke, dust and static were in the air. Broken metal and mortar scattered on the ground. Steam rose from the buffalo amidst it all. It's muscles were burning. It's thick hide was scorned by laserblasts. It breathed heavily and it's eyes were full of rage.

No matter how many of them he took down, there were allways more robots shooting at him. But he had to keep going, at least this way they weren't focused on the people in the boulevard. And slowly, but surely, the civilians could one by one find a way out of the killbox. He just had to keep up his primal rage long enough, there was no other way.

This wasn't right, though. Beast Boy was used to fighting in a team. Be it the Doom-Patrol or the Teen Titans. In a decent team someone always had your back. And if you lost your cool, like Raven had told him the night before, there were friends to keep you in line. But now, they were spread to thin. And the green boy couldn't help but notice it was all a bit to familiar.

Garfield Logan was a lone wolf tonight, in more ways than one. For in the blink of an eye a wolf had replaced the war-torn buffalo. Savagely it called into the night. Not so much as to inspire fear or terror, for he knew robots felt none, but to inspire himself. This wolf had to dog himself on, or else all was lost.

As he leaped in the light of the full moon shining through the bare night sky, the bright beams flashed around him. They singed his fur but no true hit came to avail. He wouldn't have cared if it did. Better him who could take it, than someone else.

As the green wolf zigzagged through the enemy he picked a target by instinct. Swiftly he jumped up and pinned down the metallic man. The artificial throat was the first thing to be ripped out. More bolts and shards flew in every direction soon after.

There was something familiar about these droids too, he reflected. The way they moved, the way they fought. Even, ever so slightly, the way they looked.

But it couldn't be. He knew it for certain. He was just being a paranoid. He knew they were safely stored away. They were nothing more than remnants now. Bad memories were all they'd become. No more dangerous than recalling childhood naiveté.

In the midst of battle the wolf realized his communicator was calling. Surrounded by the dire danger the green beast scouted for a suitable spot to pick up the machine. Even if he managed to get it working with his paws, he doubted his friends understood 'wolf'.

He did not need to look for long. A toppled over school-bus lay in front of him, with an abandoned cab in front of it. The beast dashed for it like a sled-dog being whipped by it's master. Mid-run his body changed. It morphed into something taller with less long hair, a longer and more powerfull tail, great big feet and a pouch. It skipped the last of the distance and jumped high unto the taxi and from there onto the bus. Atop of it he finally changed back into his good old self and slid behind the bus for cover.

With the communicator finally at the ready Beast Boy pushed the required button.

"This is Robin." It sounded from the other end. "Team, I'm opening all our channels."

* * *

"Are you in place?" The general asked his teammates. The communicator beside him answered as his eyes still clung to the ever-moving sattelite-view on the great screen before him.

"Oui." Answered the ape.

"I chad to make a liddle detour." Madame Rouge disembodied voice replied. "For zome reazon Grey Boulevard iz not open for traffic."

To his dismay General Immortus heard the red lady laugh at her own joke. This was no time for jokes he deemed.

"Hurry up." He warned sternly. "And wait for reinforcements."

* * *

"Team, I'm opening all our channels."

Robin's voice was clear through the apparatus in her hand, though she sensed the weariness in his voice. Raven didn't need to be an empath to sense his desperation, just a good friend.

"Are you sure that's wise?" She asked, not impolitely. She still remembered when the brotherhood of evil had used their own communication against them. Her voice suggested as much.

"I'm just lost here." Her leader admitted.

"Aw come on now." This time the voice that boomed through the communicator was Cyborg's. "Are you telling me the best student of the greatest detective is out of touch? Whoa! Oh yeah? How you like this, huh?" A loud, familiar blast was audible. "Yeah, I thought so."

"Stop making jokes and stay focussed Cyborg." Said Robin, his feelings somewhat hurt.

As Raven walked through the dark, cold halls of the purifying-plant, the conversation continued. Consciously she turned down the volume. She was close to her goal and didn't need her friends to warn ahead.

"I need an update, because to me this isn't making any sense. I've just been told that the forces on my end are after an ancient artifact. Namely the mask of Kömai. An ancient African mask that's worth quite a lot of money but not much more. Supposedly they're trying to crack the vault it's in right now. I'm heading over there as we speak. It's also where they're holding some hostages. But this seems like a lot of trouble just for a way to make some cash. I think I'm taking the bait for a diversion. How about you guys?"

"Ye..." Raven started, pressing down the button to allow her to speak. However just as she did so, Starfire started talking too. After a bit of embarrassment, the Azarathian allowed her friend to go first.

"I'm having quite the problem at my end. It would seem the core is melting the down. I'm sorry I couldn't call in earlier but..."

Yet again the orange girl was interrupted. An elephant blew his nose mightily somewhere far away and straight through the speaking device. A flair of annoyance crossed Raven's brain, but no more than that. After waiting for something else, Starfire continued. "But the room where they keep all the special suits was under the attack."

"Special suits?" Raven asked. "Starfire, do you mean anti-radiation suits?"

"Yes!" It was amazing how much cheer the alien girl's voice could still contain. Raven wondered if her friend had a clear grasp on the situation. "Those are indeed the ones. But I was not in time to save them. Only one remains. I can withstand it though and am guiding miss Samantha Brits to the center of the facility, in the contaminated area. There she will be able to override the system and undo all damages to the plant of power."

"Hopefully." Raven added.

"I must ask you something though for they would not answer my question."

"Shoot!" Cyborg answered whilst clearly shooting himself.

"How will I recognize this plant when I lay eyes upon it? Is it green? Does it look like a cactus or more like a Venus Fly Trap? I have not seen pictures of the power-plant in the 'big-botany-book' Beast Boy gave me for christmass last year."

"... What do ..." Robin started. "You think...? What?"

"Hold up?" Cyborg interrupted his stammering leader. "Are you serious?" He asked with what sounded like a rising temper. "Beast Boy got you a botany-book for Christmass?!"

"That's not the issue here Cyborg!" Robin screamed from his end.

"Yes it was very thoughtfull of him." Starfire answered her friend's question.

"Very cheap you mean." The boy formerly known as Victor Stone answered

"Cyborg this is serious!" Boy wonder exclaimed.

"Don't worry Robin." Starfire replied. "I'm sure miss Brits and I will be able to manure and water the plant the correct amount without me having read about it in a book."

There was a moment of silence in the comms, apart from the sound of lasergunshots in the distance.

"That's it." Said Robin eventually. "Starfire I'm coming over to help you, between a mask with a few guards and he whole city being blown to smithereens, I know what is most important."

"Do not do this foolish thing you speak of." The alien girl warned earnestly. "There is no suit for you, you can not help. Trust me Robin, we can do this."

"Yeah man. You got your own hostages to take care of." Said Cyborg. He followed this line by apparently firing his blaster and a loud 'Booyah!'.

"I know but something about this entire ordeal stinks." Her leader declared.

She could not help but agree and apparently so did Beast Boy, or at least as far as she could interpret the meaning of a giant ape's shouts

"So how is it going at everyone else's end?" Raven asked as she peered allong the corner. The entrance she'd been looking for was just a few yards down an unguarded corridor. But she remembered Feng's ponderings about booby-traps. She'd have to slide through the walls and then, unleash hell.

* * *

"Well I don't know about you guys, Raven, but we are getting our butts kicked." The half-man, half-machine said as he helped the police-officers around him barricade the door with desks, file-cabinets, potted-plants and chairs alike. "We're being swarmed here. I mean it's ridiculous, I've never seen so many robots in my life! And I was the guest of honor at last years' robo-con if you remember."

He released the grip on the communicator and ordered to bewildered cops to move to the upper floor and shoot from a vantage point. When he reaffirmed his grip on the button of the communicator he continued. All the while he strode down the corridors with a decisive pace and made his way to lower levels of the building. "Our losses are minimal but we had to fall back inside the building. We're completely surrounded and our ammo isn't going to last us all night. Officer Brady had the bright idea of getting the confiscated weapons from the basement, so I'm heading over there to meet him right now, he needs me to override the lock so we can get to them."

After turning a few corners, Victor Stone reached a plain wooden door with a fancy lock, but it had already been opened. He pushed the door open and found a narrow, white hallway that lead downstairs through a set of stone steps. He moved down them. "Though, even with all he described our boys in blue will be out of ammo in an estimated twenty-three minutes, I believe. My energy-source allows me to go on longer, but I won't be much use alone. And before you suggest it Robin; if you're going to come over, finish up there first. My new friends and me wouldn't want to come before innocent lives."

"I know Cyborg." Robin answered throught the small device. "I'm trying to find them right now. I just led one hostage out safely and am now en route to the others. I promise you, I'll come as soon as possible, just hold out."

"Roger that." Cyborg replied as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He passed through an opened door made of metallic bars.

"Do you have any idea why they're attacking the compound? I find it hard to believe it's just to make sure the cops don't reach the other spots." Robin asked.

From one of the communicators came the sound of a wild boar's grunting.

"No clue on that yet. I'll let you know. I'm shutting down my communicator for a while, I'll need my focus for this." Cyborg turned a corner and attached the communicator to a piece of his armor at his right leg. The last thing he heard from it was Robin giving him his blessing to do so.

As officer Jonas Brady and four other cops came in to view, so did the giant, round vault they stood in front of. Two of the other officers stood upright, eying the vault hungrily. One lay on the ground with his eyes closed and blood trailing from his forehead to his shoulders, another was bent over this one, whispering to him and trying to wake him up.

Brady was the first to notice the Titand as he walked up to them from their right side.

"How's the situation upstairs?" Brady asked.

"Could be going better." Cyborg admitted. Losing no time he plugged a wire out of his left arm and plugged it into the terminal next to the vault fitted to guard the underworld itself. "Why did you need me for this again? I thought you guys knew the codes." The data ran through his body and he could feel it. Immediately he booted up a program to decipher it.

"We did." Admitted Brady, his thick moustache dancing like a fat caterpillar as he spoke. "Or at least he did." His big soft neck allowed his head to move in the direction of the passed-out guard. "Truman's injuries were more severe than we initially thought however. He fell unconscious not two yards from the vault." He paused for a few seconds and watched the hero at work. "Can you do it?" He asked.

Cyborg turned his face from the monitor to the overweight cop beside him, a smile was on his face. "Consider it done." He answered and the red light above the vault turned to green. Not wasting the time to override the door's automatic moving, he decided to do it manually. He grabbed a giant metal bar at the right side of the vault and pulled it open. "You have any idea what they're after, by the way?" He asked the officers behind him. "What is it that you keep here that could be off interest to them?" His voice was hoarse as he pulled the heavy door.

"Just the usual." He heard Jonas say as the light from inside the vast room spilled into their hallway. "Confiscated items. Such as drugs and guns."

Cyborg released the door and moved to stand beside the aging cop. "And that?" He asked, his eyes to filled with terrible wonder to blink.

"Oh, yes." Jonas replied as if he'd completely forgotten. "And that."

* * *

Unlike Cyborg, Starfire still had her communicator on, so she could hear her fellow female titan, Raven, raving into it. A part of her wished to shut it down, she had her own delicate mission to accomplish. In the short time she'd been escorting miss Britts she had already blasted four robots to little bits. Samantha wasn't particularly strong but she might survive one hit. Her suit on the other hand wouldn't. So Starfireneeded her focus. Yet a part of her desired to hear all the available information because, just like forRobin and Raven, something about this whole affair didn't sit quite right with her.

Samantha Britts didn't seem to mind the chatter though. Starfire wondered if the woman had even noticed the last two robots. Nothing could break her focus as she intensively eyed the laptop-screen she held. Once in a while it displayed a map but at other times just a bunch of changing and ever-climbing numbers. They were alone now, they'd left the other scientists and guards behind when they passed through the first great metal door. That had been ten minutes ago.

Starfire thought she looked odd in her yellow hazard-suit. It seemed thick, uncomfortable and warm. The only part of her that was still visible was her face through a square see-through substance. Sweat accumulated on her face and hairs stuck together. Was it just the heat inside the suit, or was she truly that worried? Without realizing, Starfire hastened her pace.

As the two continued their way to the manual override, through the abandoned hallways, Raven's voice droned on with it's usual lack of enthusiasm. Less then usual if anything, Starfire noticed dreadfully. Her worries about that matter were also still in her mind.

Raven told her, Beast Boy and Robin of the man named Feng and how she'd used him to deduct the knowledge of where he was.

"What if it's a trap though?" She dared scarcly more than whisper.

"I'm sure it is." Raven answered solemnly. "But I don't think I have much of a choice but to spring it. Who knows what they're doing to the watersupply. For all we know they could be contaminating it with something awful and deadly."

"Bââââ!" Beast Boy sheepishly interjected.

"Very insightful Beast Boy." Raven said and Starfire could swear Raven's voice was off. The remark had it's usual sting, but none of the emotion. "But I'm sure I'll be fine. Wish me luck guys."

"Like you need it." Robin joked.

Starfire had no time for jokes, she heard metal footsteps coming around a corner. Quick as a cat she raised her hands and blasted a robot coming around the corner to pieces. Flying as fast as she could she flew towards the corner and knocked another one through the wall. She turned her head and looked around into the next hallway and saw two other bots with their guns raised. Without time to aim her arms Starfire shot the energy from her eyes and cut them both in half. Alas, one shot had gone of by the droid on the left, it hit her in the gut and made her fall over.

'At least the way is clear.' Starfire thought as she scrambled up.

The blast had knocked her something fierce but no true damage was done. Unharmed and unbothered Samantha walked past her muttering 'not good' over and over again.

"How are things at your end, Beast Boy?" Starfire asked, truly concerned.

A birds' cry was all she got as reply.

At that time Cyborg mingled himself back in the conversation. It sounded like he was on true battlefield. Explosions, cries of pain and curses were very audible in the background. "Guys!" He called. "I think this just might be the spot they're after."

"What makes you say that?" Robin asked in a soft voice, in contrast to Cyborg's shouting. "And stop yelling, I'm close to the enemy."

Starfire's heart jumped in dismay. She knew Robin could take care of himself, but a soulmate worries.

"Oh yeah?! I'm neck-deep in 'em!" Cyborg seemed low on patience to her.

"Please Cyborg." She said. "Tell us what it is you think they're after."

"Remember when we fought Overload and Dr. Light a few days back?" He asked them.

"Yes." The orange alien answered, the memories were indeed still clearly imprinted in her memory. "You only deactivated his energy-bomb just in time."

"Not more than two seconds before it would have engulfed half of the harbor. But we got it."

"Yeah." Said Cyborg. "I got it alright. I got it right here."

The transmitters remained silent for a few seconds until Robin spoke up. "You're kidding." He said.

"Not at all!" Cyborg shouted. "Die you motherf..." His connection died for a few seconds, when he returned Starfire could swear she heard his fatigue. "They have it in storage downstairs. Look, I'll hold out as long as I can, but hurry up would you. I could use some back-up."

"Understood." Starfire heard her boyfriend answer. He continued. "So if we take Starfire's target, Beast Boy's target and my own as decoys, that leaves Overload's bomb and Raven's plant as the real targets. Any theories?"

"Yeah!" Shouted Beast Boy through the transmitter, finally in his own voice. "It's a trap!"

* * *

The general's patience grew thin, if his assets didn't follow procedure the plan would surely fail. And if there was one thing he hated, it was for his strategies to fail due to the incompetence of his colleagues. He bent over the communicator, still seated, and pressed the button angrily.

"Madame Rouge." He spoke sternly with a voice coated in frustration. "Are you in place?"

"Not yet sveetheart." She replied mockingly.

"Then why not?!" The rage in his voice was building."

She however, remained as relaxed as ever."Nearly there, I juzt zaw a cute drezz I just had to zteal."

The General's eyes bulged and flared red with an angry despise. "Hurry up woman!" He no longer took care in hiding his rage.

"Don't ztart vith that tone, herr general." Her disembodied voice replied. "I'm not one of your puppetz. I don't take orderz from you."

The general nearly had a heart-attack.

"But. You. Do. From. Me." A certain cold voice behind Immortus droned. "And. You. Will. Hurry. Up." There was no room for negotiation in that calm, emotionless, inhuman voice.


	6. Taken Mr Mill's lane

A/N

Hey there.

Sorry for the long update wait. Thing is I've got exams right about now, and even less free time than I calculated. As a result I'm hardly any further on chapter 12 and it took me quite a while to re-read this chapter. My last exam is the 31st of January, so I'll let you know now. I' most likely won't add another chapter before that time and probably not immeadiately after either. My sincerest apologies to anyone wanting to read the next chapters.

I'll update as soon as I'm back on schedule.

To anyone having exams. Hope they go/went well!

Thanks to Dustin Perry for being the Beta to this chapter. If anyone else would like the position, let me know. Dustin did a great job with the first six chapters but I haven't heard from him since.

Special thanks to all who follow or favorite the story. And even more special thanks to those who comment and review. So thank you '5dRaWkCab' and 'twolostsouls25' for replying to the previous chapter. Replies really make my day.

R&R&AAE (Read and Review and Above All Enjoy)

P.S. This is the longest chapter in the story, I think.

* * *

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story.

**Chapter 6: Taken Mr. Mills' lane**

**Alternate title: **That Old Familiar Feeling; damsels in distress, the death of a dear friend and payne.

No matter how many of them Beast Boy took down, they just kept popping out the hole. The droids kept streaming from the great crater like blood from a wound. Terrible ants they were, from a heap from hell. Yet, he had to keep giving it his all, the moment he didn't, innocent lives would be lost. Remembering the fate that befell his parents, Garfield Logan would die before letting such pain come in to existence.

The changeling knew he had to try and contact his teammates. He'd reached this conclusion a while back, but the overwhelming forces didn't allow him a breather to call them. Too bad Cyborg hadn't installed an 'animal-human-language converter', or something of the likes. His growls and howls had gone unnoticed up 'till now, it seemed.

Weary and barely able to stand on his two legs, not only because the past twenty minutes had made him quite used to having four or more of them, Beast Boy leaned against a half-caved in bus-stop. Not a minute ago he'd turned into a beetle to escape a pile-on of the enemy. They were already noticing something was off and tried to find the missing life-form that was him. He did not have much time.

He shook of the bite of the cold wind racing through the city and hitting him full-on. Though it caused him great strain and good deal of pain, he raised the arm which held his 'teen-titans communicator'. "Any theories?" He heard his leader ask.

Glad to have his human voice back, he bellowed. "Yeah! "It's a trap!" The pile disperged before his eyes and one or two of them turned around, their artificial eyes locking on to him. The information was quickly and wirelessly passed around the enemy force. (Technology, is there anything you can't do?) "I think it's the brotherhood!" He shouted desperately and without time to clarify himself he turned into a bat, only just avoiding the rain of lasers coming his way.

He flew higher and higher, narrowly avoiding the blasts. When he thought himself at adequate hight, he changed into a giant whale and let himself drop. As he fell he heard Cyborg's voice.

"That's impossible." His friend said. "The police here just confirmed they're still in jail. It can't be them."

The crash was deafening to all human ears still around. The body slam had left Beast Boy himself battered and tired, but it gave him some time. Already new enemies were relentlessly crawling to the surface, but it would take them a small minute to converge on him. In the meanwhile he returned to his human form. The impact had effected him more than he would have initially thought. As he sat on his knees, he gasped for air. Not an easy feat if your lungs feel half the size they should be. The cold too hit him again, as hard as last time. He silently cursed his species for being so ill-equiped to temperatures below freezing point.

When he finally managed to speak, he coughed like a madman. "Then it's someone who learned from General Immortus, though these robots look very familiar to the once we fought in the Doom-patrol. Look, I don't know how this makes sense, but this one time we were tricked in the exact-same situation. The doom-patrol attacked five spots of great importance and forced us to spread out. They were all ruses however, they needed negative-man for an experiment and overwhelmed him, joining that group of forces he was combatting and letting all the others be defeated. I don't think they're after the bomb. If anyone wanted that, they could have tried a more sneaky way to get it. We were meant to visit these five spots individually so they could take one of us out."

Fueled by the anger the bad memory brought up, Beast Boy found the strength to stand up. He spat on the floor, coughed twice, put on his mean face and spoke. "Dudes, I'm serious, we need to regroup." Two seconds later there was no more Beast Boy, only a green ram headed straight for the robot taking point.

* * *

Any of the walls might have done, but Raven chose to phase through the ceiling, head-first. As soon as her eyes passed through, shfigured this situation had to be a joke. Was this all the trouble her friends were having? She saw only eight robots, spread across the room, keeping a look out. Even with the other robots patrolling the station, she figured there were no more than thirty were on the scene.

In the middle of the room was a man she quickly designated to being Feng. He was bound up and seated in a desk-chair. For some ominous reason he was wearing a gasmask. Over by the door she could indeed see a device planted, looking very much like a bomb. Raven was glad she hadn't tried the main entrance. She didn't know what was in the cylinders on the 'bomb'. And she had no intention of finding out in the immeadiate future

She made a mental note to report all of this to Robin once she'd gotten Feng out of there safely. Right now however, she kept the communicator offline. This way she wouldn't be distracted and the enemy wouldn't hear her untill it was too late. Eight robots? She recalled the last words that she'd heard through the Titans-device and deemed them true. Robin was right, she wouldn't need luck. This would be a piece of cake.

The floor had the form of a giant trapezium. With at the smallest walls the giant door wearing the diabolical-looking metal contraption. On the other side was a giant machine ever pumping. The noise was much more than a nuisance to her. By one of the walls were two desks with two seats and two computers. Though there was enough room for three of each. She didn't envy those who had to work in this room, she could hardly think with the loud pumping about and the lack of windows.

However, there was not a single basin in the room through which the enemy could contaminate the waterssuply. This confirmed for Raven that this was indeed a trap. What if it was just another diversion? She figured however that she should still shut down the pumping-station from here on out, that way no contamination could spread to the city. Just to be sure. But she had to act fast. And first things first.

With the eight droids roughly standing in a circle around Feng, all with their backs turned to him, Raven chose to float down the middle of the room. Without so much as a sound she reached Feng. His head was slumped down and the mask was taped to his face. Trying to remove it would definitely be painful and awaken him roughly. But even without the fact that this would arouse suspicion from the guards, it didn't seem like a good idea. If something was released in the air, it would be best for him to have it on. Instead she reached her hands beneath the seat and quietly rose him in the air. If she could phase him through the wall as well, at least he'd be safe there.

Before she climbed two feet however, all the robots turned around at once, as if summoned and fired straight for the duo.

Using her dark shield to block the blasts completely, she saved herself and her companion. However, she felt she could no longer hold Feng and his chair while she was doing this.

She hated to admit it, but she did feel weaker as of late. When the firing cut back just a bit she seized her opportunity and soured upwards as she let Feng go. Her plan worked, the guns followed her instead of him. Raven was carefull to keep the bubbly-shield around her at all time as she flew down, straight for one of the robots. As she crushed it between her powerfull shield and the floor it still tried to claw through her defences.

In the blink of an eye it's remaining parts turned black. She sent the shreds flying, and they cut through the closest robot.

It was about this time the other droids started to move. A beam hit her in the back. She cursed herself for not returning the shield sooner and fell on hands and knees. She quickly rectified her mistake, however, and blocked any further hits for now. However, they closed in.

The impact had been quite painful, but this was Raven and it would take more than that to take her down. In a dignified manor, she stood up and turned to face them, her eyes went as dark as the night. A chill filled the room.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She yelled fiercly, hands reached out.

And the world grew dark.

* * *

"Regrouping is easier said than done." Robin stated in a quiet voice. "Starfire, you can't afford to leave the power-plant and Cyborg, you're just simply pinned-down. And Raven broke contact to take her share of the enemy down. She wouldn't know if we regrouped. Cyborg once you finish, go help Beast Boy, he sounds like he's in trouble. I'm nearly finished myself, I see the robots trying to break the casing around the mask and the hostages are tied up. I'll head out to regroup as soon as possible as well. I'll go after Raven if she fails to contact us. If she's fine I'll come help either you, Cyborg, or Beast Boy. If Raven contacts any of you, fill her in. And keep an eye out for anything."

"Will do." Cyborg answered. "I've got myself a plan anyway, might speed things up."

"Be careful my friends."His girlfriend's sweet voice was always a pleasure to hear, even if it was rather distressed.

"We always are." He said, trying to comfort her.

After pocketing the communicator Dick Grayson stood upright and fearlessly walked away from the wall he hid behind, straight into the next room. He surveyed the situation one last time in the calm before the storm.

In a far corner, the tied up guards and personnel lay piled and helpless. Most of the group of some odd dozen people was unconcious, the others feared for their lives. In the middle of the room, between a heap of other exhibition pieces, stood the great mask of Komaï, resting on a pillar and encased by the strongest of glass. His foes were currently unaware of his presence, trying to cut through the cube with some sort of red laser. Even if Beast Boy was right and some disciple of general Immortus planned this as a diversion, he'd be damned if he let them could that heavy, dark, wooden, diamond-in-laced mask. Their numbers were neigh on twenty. A worthy score for any Titan.

The one cutting through the glass stood with his back turned against him. Robin grabbed his bo-staff and threw it like a spear. It pierced the robot's head and disabled all it's sight-functions.

Without lowering it's laser and with the stick still stuck it tried to turn to its agressor and stammered, knocking his allies over with the stick and cutting of vital parts of their machinery.

"Hey tincans," Robin yelled, pulling two explosive disks. "Welcome to 'tango 101'. I'm your instructor, Robin. Now, let's dance!" His disks landed at their feet and two of them fell over, the others were too occupied to help them up however, seeing as they blasted all they had at the hastily nearing Robin.

* * *

"You're crazy." Exclaimed officer Jonas Brady. "You're barking mad, that's what you are kid." He breathed hard and deep, seeing the weight he was carrying.

Even with his awesome strength it still took Cyborg the help of half a dozen cops to carry the large, heavy cylinder-shaped bomb. It's blue source still shone heavily against it's gold casing.

Brady puffed and continued his rant. "We should keep it downstairs, not put it up on the roof! If we regroup in the vault with all the cops, we can make it our Alamo. We could hold out 'till back-up arrives."

"Not sure you're remembering your history correctly sir." The agent next to him replied. His face was as read as a tomato and his age not beyond thirty. His short black hair clung stickily to his lean face, which was covered in veins as he desperately tried to carry his share of the load.

"Shut up Smitherssons." Brady managed.

The out-of-shape cop did not like this plan one bit. And not just because it was a lot of work, but it was all too risky. A few moments ago he'd been content to have finally reached the bottom floor and be rid of the stairs in the basement. But now his inner critic returned.

"It'll work." Cyborg replied, trying his best to sound confident. "I don't know if they want this bomb or not, but I sure as hell know they're going to get it. Just help me get it to the elevator, we're nearly there."

And that they were. Not a moment to soon to officer Brady. With his collegues desperately fending off the advancing army with standard and confiscated weapons alike, he felt like he should be doing something more than just carrying a big, heavy, shiny cylinder.

When they reached the lift, they carefully dropped the powerful explosive and Cyborg called the elevator.

Panting and leaning on his legs, Brady tried to reason with the young hero just once more. "Look," He said. "kid, you can't detonate it, if you do, you'll take down not just the enemy but us and a ten block radius. At the least!"

Cyborg took a break from grinding his teeth, waiting for the elevator to arrive to offer a rebuke.

"I'm not going to detonate it." He said.

A high-pitched bell announced the arrival of their ride.

"This elevator can only hold me, the bomb and one of you. Who's your best shot officer Brady?"

"That would be me sonny." He said and added "And don't you ever question it again."

"Then you're with me." The half-robot ordered. "Gentlemen, if you'd be so kind?"

The worn out cops sighed as one and gathered up their collective strength to heave the bomb into the elevator. It was so long they had to put it upright to fit it in. They stepped outside to rejoin the fight and soon the door closed on the two men.

An awful piece of elevator-music started to drone it's melody as the elevator ascended the shaft. The two men stood there in an awkward silence.

* * *

"Must we?" Starfire asked.

Being on the look-out for enemy-troops and protecting the life and suit of her companion, miss Britts, had been rather tiresome already. She really didn't feel like doing this.

"We must." Her guide answered. "And you'd better hurry, we don't have much time."

"Okay." The orange alien sighed deeply. "Stand back please."

The Titan charged her eyes and send flying as powerfull a beam as she could. While maintaining this she used her hands to send additional blasts flying.

'Why was she doing this?' You might be enclined to ask.

She was trying to open a door. And even with all her energy, it still would not yield. It was reinforced lead, so any other day this wouldn't be a problem. However, this door was five yards high and two yards thick. The two enormous plates rested together and though miss Britts had tried, she could not override the system to get them open. When Starfire finally managed to burn away a small segment of the doors of where they connected, she realized this was not the way.

Therefore she decided on a new approach. She placed her hands into the newly-formed crevice and pushed the two heavy doors apart with all her might. Progress was slow and at a heavy cost. Her arms begged her to stop and her heart raced to keep up. The strain was painful, so very painful. She had to stop for a breather when she opened it far enough to get a foot in.

"You must hurry!" The woman in the decontamination-suit spurred her on.

In a moment very unlike of her, Starfire responded. "Perhaps you should try! It is not as easy as I make it look." She answered between gasps. It was the fatigue talking and she felt ashamed for it at once.

Samantha understood however.

"Starfire." She said, changing the tone in her voice dramatically. "You are the only hope for the entire city right now, you must not fail. You can not fail." She placed her hand on her shoulder and continued. "You are a Titan, I've seen what you can do, and you sure as heck can do this."

Even in the dark of the corridor and hidden behind the suit, Starfire could still notice that encouraging smile. She realised her companion was right, not only all the people in this city would perish, but so would her friends. Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven and Robin. She pictured all their faces in her mind and used it to focus her energy. All the happy memories she had with them came flowing back at once, just as strong as she needed them to be. She sucked in a great deal of air and, with a large smile on her face, pushed open the door with relative ease. Finally the crevice was big enough for them to fit through, one at a time.

There they finally were. The end of their destination. A giant back-up controll room with the override to steer clear from the otherwise imminent meltdown. It was formed exactly like the one Samantha worked in, except that the giant screen had a large computer beneath it. That was the terminal she needed.

And all that stood in their way was a giant load of robots.

Or well, make that two or three giant loads or robots.

They opened fire and Starfire made sure she was in front of her new friend who was blocked by three sides. On her left and right Little Britain met the lead doors. And in front of her was the alien girl who was taking quite a beating for her. Because if one shot ripped her suit, miss Brits would die of radiation poisoning.

* * *

The two shady figures inside what was formerly known as Adonis' hide-out surveyed their ploy. Especially the general overlooked it all with great enthusiasm. The brain... well there's not much to say about his facial expressions.

"It. Is. About. Time." The leader of their group spoke.

"Yes, yes." Spoke the military man absentmindedly, too busy watching the video-feed from one of his robots. It showed the orange one taking many hits and clearly weakening as she desperately tried to defend her new friend. "I know, I devised the plan." He waved his hand to gesture his friend he was in complete control.

"Monsieur. Mallah. And. Madame. Rouge. Will. Make. Their. Move. Soon."

"As we planned." The general agreed, never taking his eyes off the screen. "The woman's a bit late, but the robots are enough to deter the little demongirl 'till she's ready. It even gives monsieur Mallah an advantage, you see how tired the green one is." Absentmindedly he pointed towards another screen. On it a green chimp was half-heartedly pounding the camera.

"Yes. But. Robin. Is. Mowing. Through. His. Enemies. Much. Faster. Than. Anticipated." The brain objected in his cold voice. "And. We. Have. No. Idea. What. That. Cyborg. Is. Doing."

Clearly upset to stop watching the orange girl being blasted to pieces, the general turned his attention to the other feeds. It was true, Robin had dealt with his foes quite resourcefully. Amidst the rubble of his former adversaries he stood, fighting the last eight. He dodged and ducked and kicked his way through them. Even as they spoke another bot fell, his boot crushing it's camera. Immediately the screen jumped to the view of one of the other remaining troopers.

"No matter." The general seemed confident about himself. "It might be a close call but he can't reach them in time to save them. As for the Cyborg, what's he going to do against this kind of force? With some luck we'll take all of them down, apart from Robin. That'd be a great victory, don't you agree? Ah, I remember talks like these with Ceaser, we'd usually share a fair amount of wine during them. I'm sure I saw a good vintage in Adonis' fridge."

"It. Would. Be. A. Great. Victory." The brain agreed to his former statement. "But. I. Would. Prefer. It. If. You. Kept. Your. Wits. About. You." He said reacting to the latter. "Now. Shut. Down. The. Robots. At. The. Power. Plant."

At this Immortus seemed to grow cross. "What?!" He exclaimed. "They've got that little brat pinned down. She's got nowhere to go. If we keep this up another minute, she's toast."

"If. We. Keep. It. Up. For. Forty. Seconds. More. We. Die. In. A. Nuclear. Melt. Down. Shut. Them. Down."

"Just a few more seconds, I assure you they will not hurt the scientist." The general tried.

"The. Scientist. Will. Not. Move. As. Long. As. They. Are. Activated. Shut. Them. Down."

"No!" For the first time since their plan rolled into action, the general heave himself from his seat. The strain in his incredibly old bones forgotten in the heat of the moment. He hated these brats as much as he possibly could and would not be denied his vengeance now. His cold, near-alive eyes stared hatefully at the brain. "No brain. Do you know how hard it is to activate my robots from this distance inside a power-plant? If I deactivate them now I won't be able to reactivate them. The orange brat will live."

"Now." The brain said, his droning artificial voice left no room for argument.

A few seconds passed but it was clear the brain would not repeat himself.  
Not taking his eyes off the organ besides him, the general begrudgingly moved his left hand and pressed a red button on the desk beside him. The robots in the power-plant switched off, to his dismay.

"You. May. Have. Failed. To. Destroy. Her. General. But. Worry. Not. None. Of. Them. Will. Live. To. See. Another. Sunrise."

Clearly in a foul mood, the general seated himself back into his chair. Seemingly tired, he picked up the communicator and pressed it to speak.

"What's your situation?" He asked, wearily.

"Juzt putting on ze mazk darling." The red lady answered. "Itz a matter of minutez."

"Good." He sighed in reply. "Good. ... Oh, what now?!"

The screen depicting the police-station turned first blue and then black.

* * *

"Are you sure you can keep up this bit?!"It was the officer next to him, Jonas Brady, that shouted it at the top of his lungs.

That, or something close enough, as all noise was dwarfed by the constant roar dominating all other sounds in the vicinity. Cyborg would have confirmed with a nod if not for two things. First, he wasn't sure he could. Secondly nodding would take away his focus, it may seem ridiculous but it was as far stretched as it could get.

He'd looked at it this way. If his plan succeeded, he'd be a bona fide genius. If it'd fail, he'd never hear of it. Ah, the luxury of the dead.

It hadn't proven all that difficult to couple the bomb to his own laser. The tubes crossing the two were turning red in heat however, as his cannon blasted a constant and enormous amount of energy. Already he'd taken down more than half of the remaining robots from the top of the rooftop and he knew the bomb had plenty more energy to go round. They were linked now, you see. And as the awesome force surged through his own body, he could feel the explosive looming over him, like a cancer through his arm.

It was exhilarating to feel that kind of power, yet he could not enjoy it. Every single second he felt as if he'd lose control. But he couldn't let himself, it'd mean losing aim and blasting some innocent part of town. His beam wasn't just astoundingly broad and strong, after all, it had an amazing range too.

If Cyborg had one weakness, apart from having vista run some of the programs in his left leg, it was that he pushed himself too far. He did know about this, however, and was thus glad to hear his new companion shout once more. What he had to say was most welcome.

"They're retreating!" Brady yelled, and Cyborg saw that he was right.

For a few seconds more the boy formerly known as Victor Stone kept up the charge. Yet the strain and fatigue were creeping up. When his foes at long last dispersed beyond his reach he stopped the beam. Still three hundred or so had managed to escape, but as he sank down, with his cannon smoldering from the heat, he could not care less. His mission, his plan, his success.

Gratefully, he rested his eyes. Now that it was quiet it was nice on the roof. Bellow, devastation roamed free. Where the beam had made contact, ground lay upturned. Crevices and rubble were all over the place. Debris of metal, stone and even molten rubber alike lay dead in the cold night's wind. The place looked exactly like what it was. A worn-out battlefield.

Eyes still closed, and now lying on his back, Victor Stone reached for his communicator. Partly out of reflex and part out of his extraordinary sense of duty.

"Calling all Titans." He spoke, his voice betraying his fatigue. "I've finished up here. So, who needs me to bail them out of trouble?"

His usual cockiness prevailed, naturally. Though his friends were not fooled by his appearance.

"I'm about finished myself." Robin answered through the device. "Just four more to go. What's your powerlevel Cyborg?"

"Ah, you know me man. I'm alright." Cyborg answered back.

"Cyborg..." With just one word leader urged him to be honest. Victor could not find the strength within himself to lie anymore.

"Just about critical." He answered truthfully this time. Though he'd be damned if he let them dwell on that. "How are y'all doing?" He continued upbeat, trying to change the subject. "Raven? B? Star?"

"Fine." Raven answered, clearly not eager to talk. "I reactivated my communicator when the enemy found me but I'm just rounding up like Robin. I've got Feng and me in a protective bubble right now. It's just three more robots to take down. As soon as I've finished saving the hostage, I'll go find out where the rest of their forces are."

"Need back-up?" The half-machine asked, genuinely concerned.

"If anyone's to give back-up it's not you." Robin answered. "Cyborg, I mean it, boot up or charge yourself or something. We can't have you going off-line now."

"Uhm." A strange, distorted voice said. "Is this thing working?" It asked. "Do you hear me? This is Samantha Britts."

"Miss Britts?" Robin's retort came quick. It was no wonder, Cyborg figured, Robin had to be concerned about his girlfriend. "Where's Starfire? Is she alright?"

"And how's the reactor?" Raven added.

For the moment Victor couldn't care less about the reactor if Starfire might be seriously injured. Though he did see the point in Raven's concern, if felt oddly cold to him.

"Uh, yes. She's unconscious I'm afraid, but otherwise fine. I think." The disembodied voice of miss Britts informed. The reactor's fine. We were ambushed by a lot of robots in the control-room. But then they shut down suddenly, not a moment to soon. Starfire, your friend, she fainted. The robots remained disabled when I carried her out of the room. Luckily."

For a moment, Cyborg didn't know what to say, and he was grateful that his leader did. "Miss Britts, can you get Starfire to safety please? If this is a trap, I don't think they were after the reactor nor Starfire or things would have ended differently." After Samantha confirmed that she'd do all within her power, Batman's apprentice continued. "What do you think, Beast Boy?" Victor heard him ask.

A monkey shrieked an answer none could understand.

"Beast boy." Robin said, his tone grave. Victor realized his leader had to be as tired as he himself was, if not in body then inmind. "I know it's hard out there, but I really need your advise now."

"What's this about a trap?" Raven asked in a neutral way. "And what does Beast Boy know about it?"

"I told them earlier that this seems like one of General Immortus' ploys." Beast Boy's voice answered at long last.

Victor was left wondering if everyone was as tired as he was.

"But the police already assured me they are still behind bars." The half-robot explained. In a quick glance he looked over to his companion on the roof who nodded affirmatively.

"Then it's most likely a disciple of his." Raven said, utterly convinced of her own logic.

"That's what we figured." Robin agreed. "Beast Boy, do you have any idea which one of us they'd be after."

"Like you said dude." Beast Boy answered between heavy draws of breath. In the background Victor could hear frequent explosions. The kind he'd heard first hand just minutes ago. "Not Star." The green Titan decided. "But really, I have no idea. All I know is we should regroup."

"Agreed." Robin answered. "Miss Britts. Have the security-team protect Starfire. We'll regroup there, after all she can't move right now."

"I think I'm nearly done guiding out the civilians." Beast Boy spoke. "But there are too many enemies. When I'm done here, I'll have to go, I can't hold out much longer dudes."

"Understood. Call me if you have any more trouble, if not, head for the power-plant once you're finished. I'll go help out Raven and regroup with her once I'm done here. Next to the power-plant the water-purifying-station seemed the most likely main target. Watch your back Raven. The disciple may be after you."

"What about me?" Cyborg asked.

"You head to the power-plant now." The team-leader ordered.

"Hey man. I can still fight, okay?" Cyborg retorted. "I can go help out Raven or Beast Boy. I mean it."

"I know you can." He heard his friend answer. "But I need you to go protect Starfire right now, until Beast Boy arrives."

It was a blatant lie and Cyborg knew this. Robin had no confidence in Cyborg's current state. If he was honest with himself, he didn't either. But there was something in his voice, a distress heard clearly when he mentioned her name, that Victor found himself unable to resist his plight.

That is, until the giant-robot appeared. It emerged from behind a tall flat a few hundred yards away and was clearly made up of about a hundred of the robots merging together. It walked straight for the police-station.

"What the..." He started. His breath remained visible in the ice-cold air above the roof of the battered police-station for a while before he continued. "I might need some help myself!" He spoke with wide open eyes. And then he gulped.

* * *

"Do it now woman!" The general's face was red with fury and his vanes seemed ready to burst. He stood bent over the desk and the communicator as he yelled. "What are you waiting for?!"

"Juzt enjoying ze shov." She answered as if there wasn't a care in the world, which infuriated the bald military man only further. "Don't fret, herr General." She continued. "All iz in place. I'm juzt letting her tire herzelf out. No need to ztrezz."

"No need to stress?!" The general roared. " This is why my plans fail. It is because of you. Not only did the orange girl survive and did I have to activate the 'merging-protocol' to hold that Cyborg off long enough, but Robin is nearly finished with his diversion. Do it now!"

"Zay ze magic vord." She teased in response.

Following that, the general said some things I'd rather not repeat here. One thing was sure. Unless a curse counts, they weren't magic words.

* * *

High up in a skyscraper on Grey Boulevard a large figure leered out from the window. A pair of binoculars rested in it's great, strong hands and were used to overlook the chaos below.

The broad observing figure was Monsieur Mallah, and he was enjoying this show. The memory of his master's defeat at the hands of these youngsters still burned something fierce in the back of his mind. Especially that green one, the one that had always been there to foil them at the last minute, deserved this agony.

In truth the giant gorilla didn't mind that madame Rouge was a bit late, as long as he got to see that little pest having to fight for his life. Yes, he did anticipate strangling the boy in his strong hands with glee. His finger's itched at the very idea. But the lad was worn out now and would not prove very resistant. The fun wouldn't last very long as soon as he got personally involved. At least this way he got to enjoy it a bit longer. Right now, standing by the window, Mallah felt content just to watch.

He watched the changeling turn into a horse, a bald eagle, a hippo and a kricket. He had to grant, though be it reluctantly, that the little green one did find some interesting and creative ways to take down his foes.

Yet every-time he changed back into a human, the fatigue was quite visible, from his weary expression to the sweat running across his face and the heavy breathing vaporizing in the cold winter-night.

Monsieur Mallah smiled. Christmass obviously came early this year.

Next thing he knew, Beast Boy changed into a bloodhound. And after it ripped a robot's arms off, the dogstopped for a brief second, head and snout held up high.

Never removing the binoculars from his eyes, the smile across the ape's face faded as easily as it came. Still watching the dog down below, monsieur Mallah used his free hand to grasp his communicator.

"I may have found a small problem in your plan, general." He cautiously let his colleague know.

"What?!" The old, harsh voice replied from the other end of the device. It was clear to the giant ape that he'd been vexed by madame Rouge again. "Are you spotted?! I told you to stay out of sight!"

"I did. He can't see me." The ape returned truthfully. "But he can smell me."

* * *

Finally the room was silent. The last robot to stand upright slowly sank to his knees. The metallic clunk of his knees hitting the floor was the last sound it would make while still operational to some degree. The giant hole in it's chest saw to that.

With some satisfaction breaking through her over-neutral mind Raven watched intensively as the light went out it's artificial eyes. She cracked her fingers as a sign of victory and walked over to the hostage in the middle of the room. The bomb on the door was still on her mind and she knew it was imperitive to get Mr. Feng out. Sooner rather than later.

She could softly slap his masked face, to wake him up. He might have viable information about what the enemy was here for. But she realised she could also do that stuff later. Safety first, right? Besides, she'd been inside his head before and was not eager to hear him speak again.

Careful to leave his gas mask on, the Azarathian used her powers to phase him through his bonds. Not unkindly she grabbed him under his shoulders and turned him around. Pressing his back close to her chest she disengaged herself from gravity and flew up towards the ceiling.

She never even noticed the red pool crawling through the smallest of cracks beneath the booby-trapped door. Nor did she see that pile of mass shape itself into a familiar body. She didn't know of any danger, really, until the red woman's arm stretched out far beyond the law fysics and pulled her leg. The strength of this unforeseen action drew her down and made her hit the floor hard. Mr. Feng flew out of her arms and rolled a few yards away, still unconcious.

Her indifference was definitely broken as Raven crawled up. Her eyes filled with a furious gleam. At once she reached for her communicator. But it was not there anymore.

"Looking vor thiz?" Madame Rouge toyed. In her hands was the object Raven was looking for. "Id iz a nice toy."

"Give it back." Raven said, after crawling upright. "Or you'll be sorry."

"I'm zhaking in my dezigner bootz." Madame Rouge's smile of contempt was enough to drive any average person insane with spontanious hate. For Raven it was the source of a mild annoyance. Even as the woman pocketed the communicator, her heartbeat never rose a great deal. "Come and try to take id back." The red lady taunted.

And so the Titan did.

Her speed was tremendous as she took off without as much as a running start. Her hands balled into fists as she shot forward, flying straight for her adversary. A bigger shadowy dark fist formed around her real one. But what the move had in speed, it lacked in creativity.

Having forseen such an attempt it was not hard for the member of the brotherhood to stretch her arm and slap the younger girl. The impact made the already slightly worn out (and in less than optimum shape to begin with) Raven, fly past the red lady. As she crashed down for the second time in less than twenty seconds, the hooded girl realized that she'd have to change her game-plan.

Raven was ready to use her dark curses to the full extent but noticed that Madame Rouge just smiled at her. One of her arms stretched over to Feng. In one swift movement she dislodged the mask from his face. In a hasty manor she tried to put it on.

Instinctively Raven shouted her mantra and the mask grew black. Now it flew towards her. When it was near in her reach however, a designer boot kicked her hard in the stomach. It send her flying backwards. She landed against the wall and sank to the ground.

For a few moments her world was black. Her eyes remained closed and she took the briefest of moments to rub the hit area. In the while all she heard but her body's complaints were the words of Madame Rouge. "My my," She said, mockingly. Her voice was distorted for some reason. "You zeem a bitt oud of zhape today." When Raven open her eyes she saw what caused the distortion. The woman was already wearing the mask. "Maybe ve zhould juzd call id a night and get zome zleep."

Quicker than Raven could react Madame Rouge's left arm reached out and bound itself around her. She found it rather hard to concentrate and try to phase through as Madame Rouge increased the pressure exponentially. In her right hand the villain had procured something which resembled a detonator.

As soon as the button on it was pushed, the thing that had seemed like a bomb on the door revealed itself to be something else entirely. The cylinder-shaped containers Raven had thought to contain explosives slid open. A blue gas escaped. It spread through the room like fire.

With the last of her strength Raven tried her best to remove the mask from her foe's head. Her own eyes grew red and frightening. Her hair shot up as the energy in the room was displaced. Her voice was dark and dangerous. And clearly to much of Madame Rouge's dismay and fear, the mask she wore turned black.

"Azarath!" Raven shouted as hard as she could. But by doing this she only breathed in more of the gas. "Metrion..." She continued, far less powerful. And Madame Rouge noticed this as her fearful looked returned to it's sadistically amused state. "Zhin..." Raven could barely focus and her eyes grew weary, yet the smile of that awful woman urged her on. "Tho..." Her head sagged down and her eyes shut completely.

Her breathing was so shallow and weak that one might think her dead.

* * *

Though he changed back from bloodhound to more or less human, Garfield's face grew not a bit less viscious. He was still standing amidst the chaotic battlefield. Though nearly all of the civilians had found their way out of the boulevard by this time, the sentinels remained. But sensing that perticular smell made them all seemingly fade away.

Beast Boy would be the first to describe himself as a prankster, a joker and even an eternal optimist. But now, with his past coming back to haunt him, there wasn't a smile to be seen in miles.

He was in fact quite lucky to have no robot hit him in the intermediate stage. For you see, as soon as Monsieur Mallah realised the kid wasn't fleeing, he'd told the army to stand down and be ready to act when needed. After all, he did deem himself more than capable of tearing the boy apart himself, a joy he'd been looking forward to.

As he saw the great ape climb from the high window and leap to a lower nearby rooftop, Beast Boy went for his communicator.

"Calling all Titans." He said. "I can see Monsieur Mallah."

For what seemed the longest while, there was no answer. As his rival climbed down a flight of fire escapes, he awaited any reply anxiously. A sinking feeling grew in his stomach as he realized just how familiar it all was indeed.

"Robin?!" He called, reaffirming his grip on the device. "Cyborg, are you there?" A soft curse was uttered to himself before he continued. "Starfire, can you answer me?!" The situation grew dire and encreasingly hopeless as the gorilla landed something of a hundred yards from him. It took it's sweet time in walking over to him. Garfield realized he should run for it. He was tired as hell and no match for the beast before him. His shoulders sagged under the stress of impending doom and he bit back a sob. With no titans answering, he feared the worst. He feared the brotherhood had already won. "Raven... please talk to me."

At long last, a female voice replied. But it was not Raven's. It wasn't even Starfire's, though it came from her communicator. "Mr. Beast Boy... Starfire... she's still unconscious."

By then, the ape was in front of him, a belt full of grenades glistening on it's chest. A pouch was attached to it at his waist. The beast smiled a terrible smile of razor-sharp teeth and malice. Garfield never broke eyecontact.

"Right." The green lad spoke. "Keep her safe. Would you?" He pocketed the device and stared his future square in the face. "So..." He spoke.

"So." Monsieur Mallah agreed in his French accent. He got up on his legs and kracked his inhuman knuckles. "How do you want to do this? The easy way, or the hard way?" Somehow, by not trying to sound menacing, his voice was more of a threat than ever.

Beast Boy's reply came swiftly. "We won't let you win."

"Of course not." The gorilla replied. "That would take all the fun out of it."

In the very moment the animal stopped talking it swung it's fist forward. Though it's owner had hoped to make bone-shattering contact with a small boy's face, the fist found it's destiny between the fangs of a velociraptor.

To Beast Boy's dismay his foe was quick on the uptake. Though the pain clearly surged from Monsieur Mallah's hand to the rest of his body, the ape quickly jumped up and used one of his feet to choke him. His free hand and foot were immediately utilized to pry apart his prehistoric sharp teeth.

Luckily the changeling still had a trick up it's sleeve. As quick as he could he changed into an alligator and it's tail slapped him hard in the face.

In a glorious moment he could watch the member of the brotherhood fall to his side a few meters away. The villain's eyes closed on impact and by the time he reopened, Beast Boy made sure they would see a moose charging at them. Alas, the gorilla had just the time to grab his antler. Using his enemy's strength to get up, the ape strengthened it's grip and flung Beast Boy aside. The creature landed a few yards away on a pile of rubble andupturned rock, near the great hole through which the robot's had crawled up.

As Beast Boy struggled to get on all fours, the ape approached once more. The menacing beast loomed it's terrible shadow closer and closer. The changeling returned to it's more-or-less human form.

"Here we have a human, trying to be an animal..." The ape began.

Logan finished his sentence for him. "And an animal trying to be human." Garfield spat as he finally managed to get up on his knees. There was no more fight in him, he knew. "I remember you saying something like that before."

The gorilla just smiled with it's sharp teeth aligned. "That is correct." His heavy French accent resonated. He grabbed the small boy by the throat and pulled him up with one hand. With the other he reached for the pouch at his side. "And though humans may be the smartest of beasts, they are the only ones who willingly demean themselves to such savagery of being an animal." The one hand brought the boy's face closer as he clawed for breath. The other pulled out an empty syringe. "That is why you lose."

Beast Boy could only mutter off-sound replies. It was all he could do not to choke to death.

Monsieur Mallah, being rather sure about his own safety, released the grip in his hand lightly. The interest in what the boy may have to retort got the better of him. Meanwhile he plunged the needle into the boy's leg and drew some blood. "What was that, boy?"

The changeling sucked in some air before replying. "Not in my jungle."

Before the despicable villain could reply, the boy in his hands changed shape. A stinging sensation surged through his entire body. Even with all his size the great ape fell backward. He dropped the squishy thing in his hand. Moments later it changed back into Beast Boy. Now, the terror was written on the other face.

"The box jellyfish." Beast Boy esplained calmly. His eyebrows frowned something fierce. "I know how to cure it's sting. But you don't. Tell me your plans and hand me back my blood or I swear, you will not live long enough to see your plans through." His voice was as cold as the waters where the poisonous animal came from.

"You of all people should know..." Monsieur Mallah answered back. "That there are some you would die for. I have someone like that." He laughed. "You won't get it from me human."

Frustrated, Beast Boy summoned his strength and leaped forward, determined to take the vial of his blood from his adversary. Mid-jump he turned into a puma, trying desperately to frighten his foe. All his intentions came to an end, however as he saw the ape beneath him reach up with a new syringe. In it was a bright purple substance. Beast Boy's gut landed right on the needle.

The effect was immediate. His long nails pealed back and his sharp teeth shrank. His fur vanished along with his tail. His face shrank and expanded at the right places. His pupils turned from feline to human. And his skin turned from green to an unfamiliar caucasian.

The boy felt feeble and powerless. Without his fur, and his superpowers the winter finally claimed it's full effect. Chills of panic and pure icy-cold rand through his spine. His legs gave out underneath his own weight and in a desperate attempt not to fall down he grabbed the nearest thing his shocked mind could locate. It was the fur one the chest of his foe. In a quick response he licked his teeth and found them no longer sharp but normal. In a mixture of amazement and fear he looked at his hands, no longer paws, and back at the huge beast in front of him.

Patches of the great gorilla's fur were stuck between his gloved hands as he asked: "What did you do to me?"

* * *

"Sir?" Officer Brady heard the Titan he was supporting ask. Not without great effort he tore his eyes from the slowly advancing giant-killer-robot and turned them to the boy on the ground, leaning on him. The kid did not wait for an answer to continue. "Do you see that?"

Brady did not know what else to say. "Yes."

A cold wind surged past the two.

"Damn. So I'm not hallucinating" Victor Stone said. He sighed. "Alright. Help me get up and attached to the bomb again."

The old police officer didn't do anything to help the young boy up. Yet the teen seemed to find a way himself. Though the slightest breeze seemed enough to knock him back down.

"Are you crazy, kid?" Brady asked as he saw the young man stagger. He grabbed him by the shoulder both to steady him and to catch his attention. "You can barely walk."

"I don't need to walk, now do I?" Cyborg replied. "I need to shoot."

"Look, kid. I don't know how much gas you think you got left in your tank but there's no way you can control that bomb long enough to take that thing down safely!" His words appeared to powerful and he had to grab the boy lest not he fall. "You're supposed to be the smart one of your group, now aren't you?"

"Smart?" A faint smile appeared on the cyborg's face. "You have no idea."

"Then fight with this." Brady said as he tapped him on the head. "And not with these." He continued as he pointed at the artificial muscles on his arms.

The Titan turned to face the incoming mechanized behemoth. From the back of Cyborg's head, a small blue screen ejected. It moved across his face over his human eye. His face had turned from it's previous smile to utmost concentration as he turned towards the giant approaching piece of tech. "It seems like I can override the robot's system if I can get to it's head. Since they're all linked now, it should shut all of them down."

"Okay." Brady said, licking his lips. "So, now all we've got to do is find a way to get you up to it's head."

"I can crawl up." Cyborg volunteered. They were running out of time, it would be close enough soon.

The policeman shook his head. "Not all that way you can't. You're too tired, it'll swat you like a fly before you even get close."

"You got a better idea?" Victor asked.

The officer never took his eyes of the ruined field in front of him. "As a matter of fact, I do." A mad glint was in his eyes. "Follow me."

It didn't take them long to ride the elevator down and run outside. As the duo called them to arms, the rest of the force joined them. Officer Brady proved his worth as a leader. His orders were accepted without rebuke by all his men. Even Cyborg agreed, though not without reluctance. The boy never did like any plan endangering others. Yet he had to agree that teamwork usually brought better results.

With the giant robot nearing each second, the force wasted no time in scattering across the broken terrain. The police-officers moved right, Cyborg and Brady went left. The ground was not easy to traverse, with broken bricks and rocks, heaps and holes all over the place. The two moved past a newly blasted deep groove and a makeshift ramp. To finally arrive at their destination.

Betty.

Battered, broken Betty.

To Brady, even beat-up like this, it was a thing of beauty.

"Help me flip it over." He ordered.

"Really?" Cyborg asked. "This piece of junk?"

Shocked, Brady turned from his car to the Titan behind him. His face clearly showed that he was appalled.

"She's not junk." He said. "This is my baby."

They stood as if frozen in time.

"You know officer..." Cyborg managed. "I think I may be starting to like you."

Together the two indeed managed to flip the vehicle, but it was in terrible state. Not a single window was whole. The lights were busted. The hood was gone. The right side of the roof was flattened, the left side was simply gone. It sure was an ugly Betty.

Victor had his doubts. "Sure it'll start?" He wondered aloud.

Brady was a welcome opposite to this negativity. "Sure she will." He smiled. As he pulled open the door to the drivers side, the hinges broke off. The officer mearly shrugged and dropped the door on the ground. "Doesn't matter." He assured. "It could only get in the way."

The wreckage shrieked as he sank himself into the chair. "Ready for one last ride, baby?" He asked and put in the key. The ignition started flawlesly. "Perfect." Brady smiled. "Let's roll."

"Well I'll be..." Cyborg said laughing. "When I say go, you put the metal to the pedal." His robot-eye thwirled as he focused on the scene across the broken-down parking lot. It was working, the giant machine was taking the bait. Now all they had to do was make sure the boys in blue wouldn't regret being the bait.

At first, Brady had only been concerned with the safety of his fellow officers. That he wouldn't fail them and that Betty wouldn't fail him. But now, he was confused. "Don't you, uhm, mean pedal to the metal?"

With the slightest blush, Cyborg lifted his mechanic foot and explained. "Force of habit." Doing his best not to dwell, he raised his left hand, it turned red before their eyes. "When this turns green, you've got the all clear, understood?"

With that he took off and raced towards the robot. Crouching behind a small pile of rubble and busted robots, he never took his eyes off the rest of the policemen. They hid behind a makeshift fortress of armored trucks and took turns in blasting their ammo. If there was any effect, it was little. Unbothered the giant robot approached, step by step. Ready to squash them all like insects.

Cyborg raised his hand and waited for the right moment. It wouldn't be long as the foe drew nearer to the policemen. Without any further warning, his hand turned green. The screech of molten rubber was so loud that for one second Victor stone believed it all to be futile. For how could that mechanic monster not have heard that sound?

If it did, however, it didn't let it show. Instead the robot stretched his arm towards the group of fighters. A giant blaster unfolded as metal sheets moved across metal sheets and bolts turned with a grinding sound of hell. The outer point turned a horrible red, ignition was not far off.

But by then, help was on its way. Betty narrowly flew past Cyborg. It's tires nearly burned and the engine was fiercer than any warcry in the ancient battles had ever been. It went straight for the ramp. A ramp made of a broken-down armored truck's roof. The truck itself had for the most part been swallowed by the ground hit minutes earlier by Cyborg's bomb-fueled beam.

And then, Betty flew. A few calculations later, Cyborg shot a grappling hook from his right hand at the exact right moment. It caught officer Brady by his belt and pulled him forcibly from his wreckage of a car. The fat man landed right beside the teen titan. As planned the vehicle hit the evil machine precisely in the artificial knee-joints.

Their plan worked, the death-bringing behemoth sank to the ground. Miraculously he toppled over to his back, not being able to support it's own weight anymore. His arm rose as his back grew horizontal. It'sbeam went up in the air and faded quickly without doing any harm.

As Cyborg ran across the barren land, the robot across him was already trying to get up. Without it's right leg functioning, however, it settled for crawling up on one knee. The officers still returned fire, but the giant monstrosity seemed to take no bother.

By the time Cyborg reached his destination and jumped up the broken leg, the vile contraption had already placed it's arms solidly on the ground to push itself upright.

Victor climbed as if his life depended on it. Mostly because though his life didn't, others' did. But not long after he reached the waste, the warmachine was already upright. And as he reached it's chest, it's arm was once again outstretched, getting ready to fire.

At this time, Beast Boy tried to contact him with his communicator. Willfully, though not without some guilt, Cyborg blocked the signal. If he were to make this climb he could not afford any distractions.

Seeing that Cyborg wouldn't make it in time, the smarter, or more cowardly, whichever you prefer, of the police force scattered. It didn't take long for the giant killbot to change tactics, ever calculating for the best advantage. The metal sheets on his right arm changed places. Cyborg was happy to be able to climb across it's back and avoid this deathtrap. Traversing the metal giant was hard enough without the pieces reasembling themselves. As the metal on it's arm peeled back, the giant gun dissembled. The result was that in a few seconds a hundred smaller guns were lined up, taking place where it's hand used to be.

As Victor Stone finally reached the back of the robot's head, the guns moved seemingly uncoordinated. Yet there was much reason. They stopped moving quick enough, all pointing to another direction. Each one aiming at one of the officers.

Cyborg's scream of fury was audible even to officer Brady, who was nowhere near him. It seemed like a desperate war-cry to summon the last of his strength as the young boy crashed his fist into the head of the evil machine.

"Multiple targets locked." The emotionless collection of circuitry declared as the young technogenius fidgeted around with some wires inside it's head. He yanked out a few broken ones and attached his own just as the guns charged.

Right when the laser's were brightest, ready to fire, they went dark.

So did the lights in the giant's eyes.

And let's not forget the light in Cyborg's robotic eye.

He came tumbling down.

* * *

He'd always enjoyed it.

He'd never thought he'd have to miss it.

Sure, there had been time he'd hated it. Because, though the girls digged the pointy ears, the green skin and fangs could be off-putting. But he never stopped loving it. Who would not enjoy that power?

And now, it was gone.

It was a fact that was all too clear as he shuffled backwards, in awe of the great beast before him. He needed to morph. But no matter how much he kept trying, it wouldn't come.

_Ram? Nope._

_Eagle? Not a chance._

_Tiger? Keep on dreaming._

_Bear? Too bad son._

_Gorilla? Why, yes, there's one right over there. Oh, you? No it's not happening I'm afraid. _

Hell, he'd settle for a butterfly if it meant flying away from this mess.

Yet the cold hard fact was that whatever Monsieur Mallah had injected Beast Boy with, it had turned him into Regular Boy.

And Regular Boy seemed to have just one superpower, crawling away through the cold and dark night while lying on his back. With fear edged across his young face, the lad backed up.

The ape didn't seem concerned with him for the moment however. It merely pocketed the syringe and pulled an electronic device from the same pouch. Though it was a different shape and color than his, Garfield immediately recognized it as a communicator.

"Monsieur Mallah reporting to base." The creature spoke. "General, you have a go to send the remaining forces to target B." Something incomprehensible to Garfield was barely audible. After that, the ape continued. "Yes. I'm quite sure I can handle things here. I have the sample and the inhibitor worked like a charm."

The next moment a blue flash went across each of the robots eyes and as one they started to move back down the very hole they'd crawled up from.

"Now," The gorilla declared, turning to the frightened boy. "To tie up loose ends."

Garfield continued to shuffle backwards but eventually his back met an iron fence in a dark alleyway. Relentlessly the towering animal advanced.

"What did you do to me?" The boy Logan asked again, this time from down below. It was quite a feat to find the courage to speak at such a dire moment. "My powers... Why are they gone?"

"They are gone because we are better than you and the rest of your pathetic team." Mallah's voice was clearly filled with disdain yet never rose in pitch. Not a single vowel was out of place or time. "Granted, the formula wasn't tested yet, but my master has used his time well to study your parents work. Your powers are gone because you, in the end, were powerless to keep them. Your powers, your friends... it makes no matter. You can't protect them. You are unworthy. You thought yourself some viscious animal? A beast? This what you are really, inside. A frightened little powerless child."

Though it was a hair short of committing suicide, Monsieur Mallah's words cut to deep to not respond. Gathering up whatever courage and strength was left in his bones, Garfield stood up and regained some of his composure. But without his ability, the smallest titan seemed even smaller in comparison to the giant ape.

"You want my power?!" Garfield Logan asked defiantly. "Take it!" His right arm shot forward like a bullet. There was a fist at the end of it.

Yet, it was to no avail. His fist made contact with his foes shoulder, but the gorilla didn't even do as much as blink because of it. Instead he replied by punching the youngster hard in the gut.

The impact made the former Beast Boy swirl. He crashed face first into the fence and barely found the strength to keep himself upright as his hands clawed to hold the metal wires.

It was hard to breath and even harder to speak. Yet, after a moment, he managed to.

"Should have seen that one coming I guess. It's not like in the movies at all. Has television lied to me all this time?" He said between gasps for air. "But you forget one thing Monsieur Mallah. What about the sting? You'll die." Garfield coughed and to his own horror there was some blood.

"I'm a big animal." Monsieur Mallah explained calmly. "I've got some time to find the antidote. The box jellyfish? I bet you thought that was smart. I can find vinegar on my own, young one." Without warning the ape's left hand shot out. His enormous hand turned Garfield around and wrapped itself around his throat. He was not to kind to it either. Effortlessly the teen was lifted in the air. The boy's once green head turned to red. "If you'd chosen any other animal, you may have won, but this is why you lose. Can you still hear me small one? I want you to realize this just before you die. You lose because you couldn't kill me. You're not a real animal because you are bound by petty morality and the belief that it is wrong to kill even me. You lose because you are weak. Too weak for a world of survival of the fittest. Even with all your experiences as animals, you fail to grasp the law of the jungle. Allow me to teach you one last lesson before you go. Beasts don't knock out weaker species, they don't threaten them. Big things murder small things."

Garfield's head turned brighter red and his lungs started to cramp up. His hands desperately clawed at the strong, long fingers around his neck. But it was no good. The boy's legs swung back and forth fruitlessly as well. His hearing and vision started to go too. Yet he could still faintly make out the ape's final words. The villain continued. "You should have learned to keep good on your threats, but now you die."

The next thing he knew, a white light engulfed him and Garfield figured he'd died. For the faintest moment, as he felt the life slip away from his body he could hear his parents calling to him. Guiding him home. He wanted to join them, he knew. He'd earned that much, hadn't he?

Yet he knew, powerless as he was, there was still work to be done. There were still people to save. There were still laughs to be gained and smiles to be brought. And he certainly couldn't go now, not without forgiveness. Not without absolution.

By the time he opened his eyes, Garfield couldn't even remember falling on the floor. Yet there he was. On the ground. He felt it beneath him. It was even colder than the night's air. For a few fast moments he wondered why his foe had dropped him and feared being squashed by one of his feet. The fact that his vision was blurry as hell didn't help one bit.

So you can imagine Robin's voice being one hell of a sound of sore ears. Even if he couldn't locate it.

"How's this for a threat?" The boy wonder asked. "If you lay one more finger on him, you'll be drinking all your future meals through a straw!"

Garfield blinked his eyes ferociously. The world gradually came in to focus. A few feet away he could easily recognise the shrapnel of one of Robin's customized flash-bang grenades. He heard the unmistakable sound of Robin using his cape to glide through the air. He landed beside his comrade and even though Garfield's vision was still somewhat blurry it was the best sight he'd seen all night.

Afterwards, Robin directed his voice to the boy at his feet. "You'll be fine kid." He said soothingly.

It hit him. And it hit him hard. His friend didn't even recognize him. If it wasn't for the beating from the enormous gorilla, that would have been the most painful experience of the evening up to now. "Robin..." He said as he pushed himself up. But his voice was distorted and weary. The fingers may have departed from his neck, but their shadow remained.

As weak as his own voice had been, Monsieur Mallah's was the complete opposite. "I thought you said he went to help the caped girl not the green one!" The giant talking animal shouted into his communicator, for once losing his cool. The stress of losing such an opportunity to repay all the trouble his enemy had caused, had put great strain on the evil gorilla.

"I did." Robin said to let know he was still there and Monsieur Mallah was still screwed. "Untill I heard Beast Boy's call." His arm shot out, holding a familiar device. "One of your robots damaged my communicator though, so I couldn't respond." He pocketed the device in his utility-belt. "Now, tell me what you've done to him. And don't lie, I'll know, I've been trained by the best. Now, where is he?"

"Robin..." The boy Logan croaked.

The French villain was slightly confused by Robin's poor grasp on the situation. This confusion rapidly turned to amusement. His teeth grew bare as he smiled a sinister smile. His eyes shone with a mad surprise. For once something quite alien happened to the serious gorilla. He roared with laughter. He pocketed his own communicator slowly and answered once he composed himself.

"Unfortunately," The ape spoke. "I don't have time to answer you questions and fight you." As his hand rested on the pouch by his side he continued. "I've got vinegar to find."

Without warning he tore off the belt of grenades across his chest. In one swift movement he collected the pins of two of the the six grenades and threw all explosives, belt and all, at his fallen rival.

Even Robin hadn't seen it coming until it was too late. Powerless to stop them from going off and determined to save the boy at his feet he threw himself down and covered them both in his cape. Not a half a second later the grenades went off.

For what seemed like the millionth time that night, Garfield felt himself forcefully detached from the ground and thrown to somewhere bad. He surely was glad Robin's cape was made of high density polarized titanium.

Both teens crashed into a brick wall, first Robin, then Garfield. When he opened his eyes he saw Mallah crawling to the roof of a building on the other side of the street. An arm shot past his head, holding a birdarang for a faint second before it was dislodged. The curved piece of metal flew fast towards the escaping ape.

Sadly, the weary last few days had taken their toll on the leader of the Titans and his reflexes. The shot missed it's target by a mere second. And then the ape leapt over the other side of the roof and vanished into the night.

Grunting, Boy Wonder got up and faced the deserted boulevard. It was obvious to Garfield that he was scanning for signs of Beast Boy. As he suffered from great pain in his chest area, the previously green lad decided against getting up and settled for making himself comfortable sitting against the cold brick wall. He noticed he could see his own breath in the cold of the night. To weary to say anything, he merely regarded his friend as he looked for the boy behind him.

At long last Robin turned to him. "Have you seen my friend?" He asked. "He's green. Goes by the name of Beast Boy. He has fangs and wears clothes like yours." A mere second later a penny dropped in the titan-leader's head. "Wait, why are you wearing his clothes?"

Garfield's reply was as dry as it was sarcastic. "And there we have it ladies and gentlemen, the prodigy of the greatest detective of all time."

"Beast Boy?!" Grayson called out. He sank to one knee and checked his friends vitals. "What happened?"

"He injected me with something." Garfield replied annoyed as Robin spread his eyelids and examined his pupil with a flashlight from his utility belt. "Turned me into this. Before he did it however, he drew some of my blood. Whatever they wanted from me, I think they got it. "

This turn of events seemed to knock the breath out of his friend more than the grenades had. Yet eventually the titan leader found his words. "Right." He said, trying to gather his own thoughts. "Right." This time more certain. "We need to regroup at the power-plant, get Starfire and head on over to the Tower. There we can find you a cure using Cyborg's computers. Or maybe Raven can heal you with magic or something. Can I borrow your communicator?"

"Sure." Garfield replied. Devastated and too tired to keep up appearances. He handed it over. Whondering what the future had in stall for him, he placed the bridge of his nose between his index-finger and his thumb. The floor seemed like as good a place as any to vacantly stare at as his team-leader made the call. Inaudible to any other soul, he whispered. "I knew we shouldn't have split up."

"Calling all titans." The spiky-haired kid opened. "This is Robin. I went over to Beast Boy's spot. He was being attacked by Monsieur Mallah. He was right, it's the brotherhood. I don't know how or why, but at least we now know who. Beast Boy's alive but..." He paused.

"Not Beast Boy anymore." Garfield spoke softly with a broken voice.

"The brotherhood found a way to take his powers away. They also drew some of his blood. Whatever they're planning, it can't be good. We need to regroup. What's your status?" Robin continued.

For a few seconds the only thing emitting from the communicator was a soft crackling sound.

Then, Cyborg's voice was heard. "What?! You're kidding right? ... You're not kidding, right? Man. B, I'm sorry!" He said. "I was too busy to answer your call. I'm sorry man."

"We'll figure out how to get his powers back after we've regrouped. Are you ready too?" Robin displayed his leadership-abilities by keeping an admirable cool head.

"Yeah, we will. I promise you that B." The words came, but they brought little to relieve Logan's spirit. "And yes, I do think I am. I'm a little worse for wear, but considering this news, I guess I'm lucky."

"Good." Robin replied. "Take the T-car and head on over to the power-plant, I don't like Starfire being defenseless. I'll take Beast Boy on the R-cycle."

"The T-car is pretty busted due to the fight around here, but I'll get her working." Cyborg offered.

"That's sweet of you, boyfriend Robin." Said such a welcome voice that it clearly got to Robin.

The welcome shock knocked the breath out of his teamleader. "Starfire?" Boy Wonder started, a gleam of hope strode across his face. "Are you alright?"

"I am not certain of that." Her voice did sound somewhat weak. "But I believe I shall be. Beast Boy, I am also the sorry for what has come to pass. Yet I shall be rejuvenated to see all your faces again, my friends."

"We'll be right there Starfire, just take it easy and hold out." By now, the pressure in Robins voice was clear to Garfield.

"What about Raven?" The previously green boy asked. Robin relayed it into the communicator.

"I'm fine." The voice of the hooded girl sounded through the device. Garfield reluctantly noticed that the breath was welcomely knocked out of his lungs too. She went on to say; "Looks like this spot was just a distraction. I'm guessing the brotherhood went after Beast Boy. If they have his blood, his DNA, that's awful news. Who knows what they can to with it?"

"No..." The boy formerly known as Beast Boy said, mostly to himself. "No." Louder this time, but not loud enough to be heard through the communicator. "If they went after me and only me, they would have sent both Mallah and Madame Rouge. That's what they did to negative-man back then."

Robin, by accident, stopped pressing the button to relay his voice through the communicator as he turned to his powerless friend. "It is odd." He agreed. "Beast Boy, I need you to go on your gut on this one. We... I should have listened better. You know these guys better than any of us. If anyone can figure out what they're trying to do, it's you."

"Anyway, it's good to hear you managed to save Beast Boy." Raven continued on, oblivious to Grayson and Logan's conversation. "Don't worry Beast Boy, we'll make it through this together. I'll do anything and use any kind of magic I can to help you."

Though his eyebrows had grown smaller and less bushy by his new transformation, Garfield's frown was more than ever something to be reckoned with. Surprising himself with finding the strength to do it, he used the wall behind him to push himself up and reached for his communicator. Robin saw no need to deny his request.

"That's very caring of you, Raven." Garfield answered back.

"Hey, man. I said I'd do anything in my power too!" Cyborg butted in.

Garfield took no notice. "I didn't know you cared so much." He went on, not unkind.

"Of course I care for your safety Beast Boy. You're my teammate, a friend." It may have been nothing but it seemed like there was a hint of distress in her voice.

"It's just that you've been acting so cold lately." Garfield's brows tensed even further. "And last night, before the pizza-dinner, you called me an ugly rodent."

It took Raven a few seconds to reply. "I'm sorry about that Beast Boy, I was under a lot of pressure. We'll talk about this later, alright? This hardly seems the time."

Garfield knew all he needed to know. "Drop the act Rouge." He said sternly. "Two things a second-rate actress like you should know about Raven. She'd never apologize so easily, not to me at least. And secondly, she wouldn't fall to such childish name-calling. That's more my style."

"Brawo. Liddle one." The all to familiar voice of Madame Rouge responded, seemingly not at all bothered by this new discovery. "I guezz my ozcar vill hawe to vait 'till next year. Though, I muzt tell you, it'z incredible hov zmart and ztupid you can be at ze zame time. You found out who I waz, and didn't lure me into a trap? Rookie miztake boy."

Garfield gripped the device in his hand so tight it actually started to slightly crack. "I don't know why you're doing this." He said. "I don't know where you are." He continued, his voice grew increasingly dark and urgent. "But that doesn't matter. Because if you hurt her, it doesn't matter what you're trying to do. I'll stop you. It doesn't matter where you are. You won't be able to run. Because, if you hurt her..." Every fiber in his body told him to start screaming, yet he refrained himself somehow. It turned his threat into a statement. "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you. Dude."

Either Rouge was expecting more to follow or she was taken aback. Either way it took a few seconds before her voice resurfaced. When it did, it only said two words. "Bon Chance."


End file.
